Manna
This week is on Exodus 16:4-5:
I was reading a bit about the Sabbath as a day of rest the other day and I came across these verses. When the Israelites were on their long march from Egypt to the promised land, God gave them daily bread to hold them over. And because he wanted them to keep the Sabbath and be able to rest, he gave them extra to plan ahead with on the day before the Sabbath. If they tried to stock up more than one day's worth of manna, it would spoil.
In The Lord's Prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread. It doesn't literally mean physical manna like what the Israelites got. Instead it's daily provisions to be able to live our lives and do what we need to do. It might be food, or money, or time. Much like the situation the Israelites found themselves in, the only thing we can't do is hoard it.
Time is the best example of something God can give us and which we can't store away for later. You can't live 23-hour days Monday through Saturday so that you can have a 30-hour day on Sunday. If you don't use time, it goes rotten. Sometimes there are opportunities to reach people which have similarly short shelf lives. If you feel strongly on Tuesday that it's time to talk to that certain coworker, you'd best do it then because Friday they may get laid off and you'll never see them again.
That's not to say that we shouldn't save money for a rainy day, or that there aren't opportunities to be patient or future seasons in which things are supposed to happen. But some things, like time, can't be stored away without going bad, and we should use them while we can. But God knows us and is merciful. Nobody got their manna taken away forever because they tried hoarding or went hungry for a whole week because they forgot to save for the Sabbath day. Each day contains its own trouble. There are no curses.
It doesn't naturally make sense to us. Even though God told Moses how the manna worked, and even though Moses told the Israelites how it worked, there were some people who still tried to stock up for the week and had it go bad, or who went out looking on the Sabbath for more, when they should have saved up. We're not naturally smart that way, and some of us are more obvious about it than others.
When we ask God to give us our daily bread, we also ask that his will be done in our lives. We ask for the right amount of provision for what we need to do, and we ask what we need to do with the amount that he provides. It's the sort of thing that can only happen in the context of a relationship. You're not going to have that conversation with an apple tree.
When you pray, think about the miracle of manna. Every day, God gives us what we need for that day.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
I was reading a bit about the Sabbath as a day of rest the other day and I came across these verses. When the Israelites were on their long march from Egypt to the promised land, God gave them daily bread to hold them over. And because he wanted them to keep the Sabbath and be able to rest, he gave them extra to plan ahead with on the day before the Sabbath. If they tried to stock up more than one day's worth of manna, it would spoil.
In The Lord's Prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread. It doesn't literally mean physical manna like what the Israelites got. Instead it's daily provisions to be able to live our lives and do what we need to do. It might be food, or money, or time. Much like the situation the Israelites found themselves in, the only thing we can't do is hoard it.
Time is the best example of something God can give us and which we can't store away for later. You can't live 23-hour days Monday through Saturday so that you can have a 30-hour day on Sunday. If you don't use time, it goes rotten. Sometimes there are opportunities to reach people which have similarly short shelf lives. If you feel strongly on Tuesday that it's time to talk to that certain coworker, you'd best do it then because Friday they may get laid off and you'll never see them again.
That's not to say that we shouldn't save money for a rainy day, or that there aren't opportunities to be patient or future seasons in which things are supposed to happen. But some things, like time, can't be stored away without going bad, and we should use them while we can. But God knows us and is merciful. Nobody got their manna taken away forever because they tried hoarding or went hungry for a whole week because they forgot to save for the Sabbath day. Each day contains its own trouble. There are no curses.
It doesn't naturally make sense to us. Even though God told Moses how the manna worked, and even though Moses told the Israelites how it worked, there were some people who still tried to stock up for the week and had it go bad, or who went out looking on the Sabbath for more, when they should have saved up. We're not naturally smart that way, and some of us are more obvious about it than others.
When we ask God to give us our daily bread, we also ask that his will be done in our lives. We ask for the right amount of provision for what we need to do, and we ask what we need to do with the amount that he provides. It's the sort of thing that can only happen in the context of a relationship. You're not going to have that conversation with an apple tree.
When you pray, think about the miracle of manna. Every day, God gives us what we need for that day.
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