WHAT
IS YOUR MANNA?
Exodus 16
Exodus 16:2-4: “In the desert the whole community grumbled
against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites
said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all
the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this
entire community to death.’”
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will
rain down bread from heaven for you. The
people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether
they will follow My instructions.’”
Exodus 16:11-12: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have heard the
grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them,
‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with
bread. Then you will know that I am the
Lord your God.’”
God’s
word is reliable. That same evening,
quail covered the camp.
The
next morning, the Israelites saw white flakes like frost on the ground, and
were puzzled. “What is it?” they asked
one another. In the original Hebrew, “man hu?” means “What is it?” Since this food never existed before, it
needed a name. They decided to name it hu man, meaning “it is manna” in
English.
Manna
is God’s astonishing miracle. While it
looked identical every day, it tasted like what every individual craved. If someone likes apples, it tasted like
apples. If another prefers blueberries,
it tasted like blueberries.
Manna
could be anything!
Stretching
that idea further, God sends His kids stuff from heaven every day. What an adventure to look for God’s gift each
day! It’d probably be something
unexpected. It could be a situation, a person,
even the weather. We can wonder about
everything, could this be it? Is it good or bad? Will it help or hurt
me?
Like
the Israelites munching their favorite food every day, we can decide how to
react to our manna God supplies every day.
We can find delight. OR, we could
grumble about what’s wrong. That person
will whine every day, “Life’s deck is stacked against me.”
How
will you decide about whatever manna comes to you from heaven?
Take Home Nugget
Once, a merchant decided that his stack of weird-looking
rocks wasn’t worth much. Someone offered
to buy them, so the merchant practically gave them away. Later he saw that man selling a gorgeous
necklace made from those rocks for a large sum of money.
People
decide what’s good or bad in everything.
Whatever God sends our way is a blessing—regardless of how it looks at
first. Won’t you look for something from
heaven today and decide that your manna is good?
Paraphrased from What
is It? A Holy Lands Moment Daily Devotion. Eckstein, Rabbi Yechiel. 1/29/2015.
J.D. Griffith
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