ODJ: daily dose

February 13, 2015 

READ: Exodus 16:1-21 

The people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need (v.21).

My vitamins come in three fruity flavours. Fortunately, someone designed them to look and taste more like sweets than health aids. The contents include stuff like vitamin B-6, niacin and folic acid. Each serving contains enough supplements to last for one day. Every morning I have to consume another dose because my body has been busy using up yesterday’s vitamin supply.

The Israelites experienced a similar sense of dependence on the mysterious breadlike food that fell from heaven. Having arrived in the wilderness of Sin, they began to gripe, saying, “[In Egypt] we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted” (Exodus 16:3).

The Israelites’ complaints reached God’s ears, so He decided to airdrop food from heaven. He told Moses, “Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day” (v.4). They weren’t supposed to stockpile the stuff (vv.16,19), and those who did found that it turned into a smelly, worm-infested mess overnight (v.20).

Gathering the supernatural sustenance taught the Israelites to obey and depend on God every day. Eventually, depending on God became a way of life. “[They] ate the manna for forty years . . . [until] they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (v.35 NASB).

God wants us to rely on Him as well. Consistent daily dependence leads to a lifestyle of reliance on God. Maybe this is why He often gives us a daily dose of His help rather than fixing our problems all at once. If we become disappointed when God doesn’t solve the big problems in our lives, we can remember that He’s still at work in the situation, supplying just what we need one day at a time.

—Jennifer Benson Schuldt

365-day plan› Exodus 18:1-27