Let's look for Manna

Let us start by looking in Exodus 16. I would encourage you to read it yourself, but I will provide some cliff notes and commentary as well.

The Israelites had recently been freed from 400 years of bondage from Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea thanks to God parting it for them. Now here they are in the wilderness. A desert to be exact. One named The Desert of Sin. (This will seem more important later) The group was tired and weary from the journey, yet they had forgotten all God had just done for them. They started to grumble. God being the kind God he is still provided. He said every morning bread would fall from heaven.

Now stop for a moment. If you heard this would you just be like oh okay bread from heaven? NO, you would be like bro are you crazy right now? Bread from heaven? But like he always does, God provided.

Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

Isn't this just like humans to just grumble along through ALL God has graciously provided for us. These people were like little kids who get socks on Christmas. They do not care.

THEY EVEN WANTED TO GO BACK TO SLAVERY. LITERALLY THE THING THEY HAD BEEN STUCK IN FOR 400 YEARS PRAYING TO BE FREED FROM.

This is so like us. I feel like I, at least, do the same thing. When something does not go my way I seem to not remember all the Lord has provided for me in my life. Maybe even that day. I only focus on the one thing that God did not provide for the way I wanted. Maybe you prayed so long for a job you wanted, you got it, but it was way less glamorous than you expected and you just want to go back to desperately wondering if you would ever get this job you always wanted. Maybe it was a boy you so desperately needed out of the relationship, but once you are provided a way out, you feel lonely being single and want right back into the toxic environment you left. It is like us as humans forget all God did to bring us through that situation. We forget what being set free for the first time feels like.

Manna in Hebrew translation means "what is it." Sometimes God provides and we do not like it and sometimes he provides and we do not even recognize it is the kind provision of the Lord. Everyday God is providing for us, yet most of our prayers probably involve the things that did not go our way. Say you really wanted to be on a team, but instead of making that team you find a totally new sport. You had prayed to be on that team for so long, but you also had been praying for true friends. You get angry that you did not make the team, but do not recognize the fact you have encountered the best friends you would never have picked on your own.

I, for a fact, have diminished all the provisions of God within my life. I can look back and see them clearly, but much of the time in the moment I attribute it to myself. Like oh I chose to do this and I am so cool these people had to like me. Um hello? Who led you to the team? Who did not answer one prayer the way you really wanted to get you here? It's not me by any means. I could not have worked out the past 4 years of my life on my own. Let alone chosen how relationships, seasons, and life panned out.

The reality is I cannot provide for myself the way God provides. The Israelites just wanted to get to the promise land. They did not want manna from heaven for may I add FORTY YEARS. They never would have wandered in that desert if they knew that would be most of their lives spent wandering. But, like us, despite their doubts, they trusted that God would provide again. They ultimately had no choice. They were in the wilderness. They had to trust that each day God would provide for them. Each day manna would be there. On the sixth day they had to trust that picking 2x the amount would suffice and it would not rot like other days if they took extra. They had to trust on the seventh day that they could skip collecting and focus on the Lord. Overall, they also had to trust they would be able to survive the harsh desert conditions with reliance on the Lord alone.

Trusting sucks sometimes. Especially in a season where you literally have no choice like the Israelites. I am headed off to college in a week and I have no choice but to trust that God will provide. I know he will. He has provided and given me more than I could ever imagine each day of my entire life. Yet I still have some struggles with trusting everything will be alright in the great unknowns ahead.

---

This summer I have been really reflective on my life, especially the past four years. I have seen many full circle moments in my life in ways God has provided for me in great unknowns. I have also seen how in each day He provides little pieces of himself to show me he's still got me. Take this rainbow a few weeks ago. I had really been praying for some friends of mine and I was worried about a lot, but I had given it all to the Lord and that night BAM! A beautiful promise that God's still got me. He's still got me. Some days that's all I can whisper to myself.

God's still got me.

He holds me heart when it feels broken, brings me peace when I am fearful, and he sure as you can believe will provide what you need for the day you are in. Jesus puts it perfectly in Matthew 6 verse 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Every single day we can trust in the fact that God is holding us tightly and is giving us all we need to tackle the day. It may not seem like he is providing when our dog dies, our best friend moves, or we get a concussion, but what he is doing is building us and growing us to be more like him each day. It isn't in the paradise where we grow, it's in the deep unknowns of the wilderness where we have to fully rely on the mercy of the Lord daily to give us all we NEED.

We need to start searching for the ways God is providing for us daily. The Israelites had to go out daily and search for the manna. I have written down many times in the notes on my phone how the Lord has provided. Maybe for a week look for at least one thing the Lord has provided for you within the unknowns each day. By the end you will start noticing His hands in everything. When we start looking for Him daily, trusting becomes a little easier. We start to see the greatness how Him and the lack of power we have.

Clearly trust is a process we will never perfect on this side of heaven. The flash takes over and we was what we want and we want it now. But if we continually search for the manna every single day, we will see the great kindness and mercy the Lord lavishes on us.

---

You can subscribe for emails when I post by filling out your information on my homepage. You will be able to receive verses and encouragement that coincide with my posts as well as be notified when I post!