Day 19: The Gift of Daily Bread { pt. 2 }

Bread is my favorite. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Appetizer. Dessert. Midnight snack. 

And this is exactly what the people of Israel consumed all day. Everyday. For 40 long, arduous, hot, tiring, years. 

In part 1 we learned about the symbolism of bread: life, sustenance and nourishment. Bread was a most basic element for life together and worship. It meant provision. It symbolized the heart of the { more than } enough God. 

And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness...

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not...  So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, 

“At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. 

And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat.

And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less...whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat...

Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. 

{Exodus 16} 

Here's what I'm learning about daily bread and enough from the cranky Israelites: 

1.  Enough is only delivered one day at a time. God could've chosen to rain a flood of Manna that never spoiled in order to provide for them for the entirety of the wandering years. Yet He chose to give just exactly what they needed each morning. Storing up extra manna for longer than a day meant that it would rot away. Do I meet with the Lord daily to gather exactly what He wants to provide for me? His job is to provide enough. Mine is to walk outside of my tent and receive it. Every day. 

2. Daily bread isn't always what we ask for, but it's just what we need. The Israelites complained because what they thought they needed was rich, gourmet food like they had when they lived in captivity. Knowing their fickle, ever changing wants, Yahweh heard their outcry but met their need instead. He provided simple, basic, raw, dry sustenance. Not fancy, but exactly what their bodies needed to sustain life. Similarly, I must remember that the One who designed me knows my deepest needs and how to meet those. I can ask for what I desire but ultimately need to submit to the truth that He knows what is best. I know that He will provide what is enough. Exactly what I need. 

3. Enough has always been and will always be about Him. 

• You shall know that it was the Lord. 
• You shall see the glory of the Lord
• That they may see...

He heard their grumbling and had compassion on them. He rained down bread from heaven. He instructed for them to keep about a cup full of Manna. Why show compassion? Why ask them to remember? So that their very basic need to eat would direct them to Him. So that as they ate each crispy bite of the flaky bread they would taste his provision. So that someday when their grandchildren asked how their people stayed alive in the desert, they would show them the cupful of sustenance and bow in reverent gratitude to the God of Heaven. Enough blesses His people but it's always been and will always be about His fame. It's for that exactly reason that I can trust that He will provide. It's just what He does.