Many people are challenged by time. For those who operate in the ‘now’, forty years might feel like a lifetime. Yet that’s how long we’re told that the House of Israel wandered in the wilderness eating manna. Was there any significance to that lifetime of provision? That’s for us to discern as we consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Exodus 16:35 AFV
[35] And the children of Israel ate manna forty years until they came to a habitable land. They ate manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan.
Forty Faithful Years
No matter how they felt about their daily diet, the reality was, the House of Israel’s food crisis was alleviated. Not once, in response to their grumbling and complaints, but for forty years. Every single day, six days per week, YHWH faithfully provided manna, proof of God’s love for God’s chosen.
Self-Check
How often do we praise God for God’s provision for us? Or do we take it for granted?
Digging Deeper
I can’t imagine what the Exodus experience was like for the House of Israel. When they complained that their resources were dwindling, they could never imagine that what God provided would be a symbol of God’s gift of salvation. In the time they were walking to the Land of Promise they weren’t aware of the spiritual and historic nature of their experience. Little did they know that others would read about their experiences and be encouraged as we have been.
But that’s what happened.
God took that one moment of provision, and fed us, the multitude of believers throughout the ages. With lots of leftovers for others to eat. For our God continues to feed us the Living Bread as often as we come. No matter who we are, where we are, or how we’re feeling. And, as it was for the House of Israel then, so it is for us now – free of cost to us.
Their manna satisfied their needs for the forty years outside the Land of Promise. Our manna leads us to our eternal home. Whether they tired of it or not, that bread was the staple in their lives. Our Living Bread assures us that in believing, when we eat, we will neither hunger nor thirst (see John 6:35). Let’s opt for our Source of Life always, for He sustains and keeps us throughout all we will ever face in life. He never fails to satisfy.
And, when we see someone hungry or thirsty for spiritual sustenance, let’s share our lunch with them – Jesus, food and drink for the soul.
Point to Ponder
With whom shall we share our manna today?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
