"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you..." Exodus 16:4 (ESV)
Do not be weary of Manna.
It was during a time with the Lord when this phrase grabbed me. All was pretty much the same as it was every morning. My Bible was open in my lap. My journal and pen were within an arm’s reach. My coffee was still steaming on the end table beside me. I had worship music playing in the background – Shannon Wexelberg, as always. Even my dog was lying in her usual spot at my feet. It was something I did every morning at the same time every day in almost the same way. I did not feel like I was in a rut, but God was going to use the “sameness” of my day with Him to teach me a lesson.
I was praying for the Holy Spirit to fill me and teach me from His Word when Shannon’s voice floated my way: “Fall afresh on me! Fill my cup again! Saturate my weary soul…” And it was then that the thought struck me – do not be weary of Manna.
Manna was the food of the Israelites during their forty years in the wilderness. It was a sweet food, provided daily by God in the morning, gathered by His people in the morning, not to be hoarded for the next day or it would rot. In Exodus 16:7, Moses and Aaron told the people “in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.” What a beautiful truth! Through manna, God’s people would see the glory of the Lord!
But how does the manna of the ancient Israelites relate to this 21st century Christian woman?
After forty years of this diet, Moses told the Israelites, “And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna…that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3
My Manna is the sustaining Word of God! Every day I take in His living and active Word, reading and meditating on it. I cannot depend on yesterday’s Manna. It is my daily bread, and it is best gathered and consumed first thing in the morning.
Every day, too, I ask for a filling of His Holy Spirit as I begin my time with Him. “Fall afresh on me. Fill my cup again. Saturate my weary soul.”
Nehemiah 9:20 links the Spirit and the manna: “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth.” The Spirit is my Counselor as I delve in the Word of God. It is a daily surrender to His Spirit.
Finally, it is through Manna that I see the glory of the Lord!
In John 6, the crowd who ate of the five loaves and two fishes asked Jesus about the manna in the wilderness. In response, Jesus connected Himself directly to the manna: “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to Him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’” John 6:32-35
Jesus is the Word of the Lord. Jesus is the Bread of life. Jesus is the Manna from heaven.
Thank you for how you designed this, Lord – this need of mine to depend daily on your Word and Spirit. May I never be weary of Manna, for to be weary of Manna is to be weary of You. Jesus, You are my very sustenance and life! The more I spend time with you, the more I crave time with you. The daily discipline is not a daily drudgery, but it is sweet food for my soul. Thank you for being my Manna from heaven.
Further scripture reading: Exodus 16, Psalm 119:103, Isaiah 55:2-3, Ezekiel 3:3, John 6:22-59, Revelation 2:17
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