Daily Bread

Daily Bread

Women And Manna

Read: Exodus 16:4-5, 16-20

My hands trembled as I measured the Cream of Wheat cereal into the boiling water. Behind me, my toddler sat in his high chair, crying at the top of his lungs. Morning after morning, we went through the same routine. How long would it be before he figured out that I didn’t plan to let him starve—that I had fed him the day before, so I would feed him again today?

When the Israelites’ food ran out, they accused God of planning to let them starve. God wanted the people to trust him to supply their needs, so he instructed the Israelites to gather enough manna for only one day at a time. This would have been especially hard for the women who were used to preserving, preparing, and serving the food. They were in the middle of a wilderness, after all. What if the manna didn’t come the next day? What if their children went hungry later because they had left food on the ground? Some people disobeyed God’s instructions and tried to hoard the manna. The next morning, it was crawling with maggots and it smelled awful.

The Israelites had a hard time believing that God would provide for their basic needs, even after all the miracles he had performed on their behalf. We often doubt God’s provision in a similar way. Even though we have trusted him to save us from eternal judgment for sin, it’s sometimes hard to believe that he will take care of us in other ways. Whether we need material provision, help with emotional or relational problems, or guidance for difficult decisions, we can count on God to supply it. But he will give us only what we need for that particular situation. That way, we’ll grow up and learn to trust him to keep feeding us on a daily basis.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

Luke 11:3 (NKJV)