Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, not our monthly or yearly bread. The story about "manna", as told in Exodus 16, inspired me to start writing Manna for Mañana in 1995. I had stopped writing for a long while but lately, it has rekindled my desire to write again.
God asked Moses to lead the Israelites in the desert after they had been rescued from slavery and had crossed the Red Sea. The people traveled in the hot, dusty desert for 3 days. Finally they came to a pond of water. The people were so thirsty. They probably ran to the water to drink. However, as soon as they swallowed the water, they realized that the water was bitter.
The people were so upset. They complained to Moses telling him that they needed something to drink. Moses prayed to God for help. God showed Moses a piece of wood close to the water. God told Moses to throw wood into the water. Instantly, the water was sweet and delicious! The people stayed there several days then God asked them to travel again in the desert. This was not easy for God’s people. They began to complain and grumble because of the hard times and struggles. They had forgotten how God promised to take care of them. God heard their cries and told Moses that He would bring them meat to eat in the evening and bread from Heaven in the morning.
God also told Moses that He would test the people to see if they would follow directions. God would provide for their needs each day. They were not supposed to collect any bread or meat for the next day. The one exception was for the 7th day. On the 6th day, God would let the people collect for the 7th day so that they could rest and worship God on that day.
Just as promised, God sent quail in the evening for His people. In the morning, there were little white flakes on the ground. Moses told them that these flakes were bread from Heaven. It was delicious to eat and it tasted like honey. The people called it manna. The people used manna in different ways. Some baked it into bread, while others boiled it like oatmeal. God gave His people food during their time in the hot desert. God told His people that they should only collect enough food for that day. Sure enough, some people tried to collect the manna for the next day. Surprisingly, the manna was smelly and full of bugs. However, when the people did as God said and collected extra for the 7th day, it stayed fresh and good.
God cared for the needs of His people. Even when they were grumbling and complaining, He helped them and took care of them. Remember that the people did not get exactly what they wanted. They got a new food surprise, manna! The manna would appear every morning on the dew for the next 40 years. There would not be any manna on the 7th day, the Sabbath. They would have to gather the manna each morning from daylight until about noon. When the sun got hot the manna would melt. To be able to eat manna, they would have to depend upon God every day. They would have to depend upon God to provide the proper weather every morning for the dew to appear with the manna. They would have to work, gather the manna, every day for six days. If they did not gather any manna, they would not eat, even though God provided the manna for them. Each day at night all the bread (manna) would be gone and they would have to trust God to provide manna the next day. It was one day at a time.
We need to depend upon God every day. God takes care of us too. Just like God’s people, sometimes we may complain about our unfair circumstances but God hears our prayers and will answer. The thing is He may not answer in the way that you think, but rest assured that God will take care of you and always give you His best.
