After their divine deliverance from Egyptian slavery, the Israelite people journeyed through the harsh wilderness for a new life to serve God. Their food supply ran low and the multitude began to murmur in anger against their leadership, Moses and Aaron.
Throughout Exodus 16, we read how the Lord intervened by providing daily rations of quail for meat and a mysterious substance for bread called “manna.” The manna was a small, sweet wafer, supernaturally appearing after the morning dew.
The Israelites were commanded to gather only what they needed per person in each household. For five days, they were to gather enough manna for one day, but on the sixth day, they were to gather enough manna for two days. If the people gathered more than the Lord’s specified portion, the manna would rot with worms and stink.
Naturally, the Israelites failed in faith to obey God’s instructions, and they provoked Moses to reprove and rebuke. But God never failed to feed them. The “manna” never failed to appear, like brand new mercies every morning. It fed the Israelites for forty years until they reached the promised land of Canaan.
Can you identify the Lord’s “manna” in your own life? Has God supernaturally supplied your needs when you had no provision coming from the world? If necessary, the Lord will sustain you just like He did the Israelites, and He will get you to your promised destination!
Many times, we are tempted to inventory our own needs with our own wisdom, and we try to “bulk up the cupboard,” so to speak. We can be hasty like the Israelites and gather in disobedience and greed, thinking that the “manna” will run out. But God’s provision comes with protocols, designed to prove His integrity and to test our trust. He is not a “cash cow” that we can milk at will. When we consume His manna, we make a covenant with His word!
Manna from Heaven was the (Israelite) children’s daily bread as they wandered through the Wilderness of Sin. As a child of God, lean on the Lord’s power to sustain you during troubling times. God’s children never need to beg and the Lord’s meal barrels never run out!
Treasure your opportunities to watch God work miracles on your behalf and share your experiences with the next generation of believers. Testify to everyone, everywhere, without murmur or complaint, that God is good all of the time! Manna is a message of faithfulness! It’s God showing mankind that His love is everlasting and His mercy endures forever!