Stinking blessings
Exodus 16: It got wormy and smelled bad.
It doesn’t take long for the 600,000 people to go through their food supply. Now, they’re out in the wilderness and wondering where their next meal will come from. One of the methods used by the Lord to meet this need is the introduction of a unique food source. It appears like the morning dew, tasting like bread and honey. Each morning the people literally “pick up” their breakfast. Thus begins what will be an ongoing provision of the Lord that will continue for four decades. Except for the Sabbath, each morning begins with their going out to receive this blessing of the Lord. Right off some people try to hoard this heavenly bread, but that turns out to be a bad idea as day old manna gets wormy and stinks. This blessing from the Lord can’t be stored up. Instead, it has to be received anew each day. Centuries later Jesus will teach his followers to ask their Father for their “daily bread.” This reminds us that, even as it was for the Israelites, the Lord provides but that each day requires a renewed trust from us. I’m not against hearing folks share precious memories from days gone by, but as I watch these Israelites collecting their manna, I’m reminded that if yesterday’s blessing’s all I’ve got, well, I haven’t got much.
Take Away: God’s blessings are made new in our lives every day.
Tag: manna
Devotional on Joshua
Give us this day our daily bread.
Joshua 5: As soon as they started eating food grown in the land, there was no more manna for the People of Israel.
All their lives they’ve eaten manna that appears every morning. It’s God’s provision for them, meeting their needs in places and under circumstances in which that need could be met in no other way. They eat other things too but it’s manna that’s the staple in their diet. Now they have a toe hold on the land God promised to them. There’s much to be done: wars to be fought, land to be claimed, but finally they are here. Apparently, they’ve camped at Gilgal long enough to plant and harvest their first crop of grain. What a great Passover, remembering not only deliverance from Egypt but also now beginning to receive the land God promised them. With the harvest of this first Canaan crop the manna stops. The end of the manna isn’t an indication that God’s no longer going to provide for them. It’s simply a change in how he’s going to do it. Now the Lord’s providing for them in a new (only to them) way. Sometimes God does things in miraculous ways but most of the time he uses common tools for that purpose. Either way, it’s God who’s supplying the need. This concept works not only with manna and crops, but also with my health, job, and the many other concerns of life. I thank God for “the manna” but also for the ordinary, everyday provision for life.
Take Away: The Lord does, indeed, “give us this day our daily bread.”