Have you ever noticed that sometimes people have short memories? We see a good example of this in Exodus 16:2-15. Gone from Egypt for only a month, the people accused Moses and Aaron of deliberately leading them into the wilderness to kill them. They forgot the parting of the Red Sea. They had struck their timbrels and sung their lyrics of praise there in their triumph over Pharoah as they looked back and saw his army drowned on the seashore-but now, they were hungry. They could not believe that God could satisfy their hunger even after He delivered them from the hands of death. The need for bread in this early stage of the journey out of Egypt provides both God and God’s people with an opportunity to understand and trust each other.

The lack of faith has a short memory, and discontent changes our perspective. The Israelites longed for the good food they enjoyed in Egypt. They could remember the security of food, shelter, and clothing, but they conveniently forgot one thing-the affliction of slavery. They complained all the time, their faith was shallow, their trust was superficial, they were selfish, their stomachs prevailed over their minds and hearts.

We are the same. How many of us long for “the good old days?” How many of us often claim that things were better in the past? Most of you know that I have recently moved to a new apartment. I still think about my old apartment. While I moved out of my mother’s house several years ago, I often remember what things were like when I lived there. The present often seems worse than the past. We often romanticize “the good old days” and think of them as better than now, especially in the church. When churches deal with declining membership and people’s apathy towards the Christian faith, they often think back to when everyone just went to church because it was “what you did.” We assume that this was better. Maybe it was better, maybe not. The main reason why we romanticize the past is that we know we can get through the past whereas the present and future are still undecided.

It’s easy to blame our problems on others like the Hebrews blamed their hunger on Moses and Aaron. That’s the same thing we do whenever we grumble and complain. This is a picture of human nature. When the Hebrews were in Egypt, they longed for freedom and were willing to give up everything to get it. When they were free, they were ready to face oppression if it meant that their stomachs would be filled. They must have been shocked when God led them with a cloud by day and a fire by night. They might have even trembled in their souls. Here the heart of God was revealed. It came in the sweet gentleness of God. In order that they would know that He is the Lord, He performed the miracle of manna.

It’s easy to criticize the Israelites for their lack of faith, but how often do we react in the same way when faced with problems in life? Too often we do what they did: argue and grumble. In reality, the problem is that we don’t trust God. Although God has never promised to remove obstacles from our path. He has promised to be with us through whatever we encounter in life.

For them to survive without food from any natural source required the Lord to do only what He could do: for five days each week, He delivered daily portions of bread from heaven for each individual; on the sixth day, there was a double provision; and on the seventh, there was none. What anyone needs to get through the “wilderness” of their lives is not available except from God Himself.

Moses showed that that peoples’ complaints, leveled at their human leaders, were actually against the Lord. This is true anytime a child of God complains. The people had experienced the word of the Lord and had been under the word of the Lord; now they were to experience the wonder of the Lord. The revelation of His glory in the cloud was designed to instill confidence and to compel faithfulness.

The meal of quail was a miracle, but the manna was the greater surprise. The word manna comes from the question the Hebrews people asked that first morning: “What is it?”  Manna would be their food for the next 40 years, until the new generation entered the Promised Land. The amount of food the Lord provided was staggering: one day’s “delivery” for more than 2 million people for nearly 40 years!

The manna became a test. It was delivered daily, and only enough for the day’s needs could be gathered. Any that was left over became full of worms. The only exception was the day before the Sabbath, when enough could be gathered for two days. The lesson here is that God’s provisions are fresh every day. Jesus said the same thing when He taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Of course the people did not obey, and their lack of obedience tested the patience of both Moses and God. Their disobedience was not only stubbornness: they did not know God enough to trust God. This problem was foreshadowed by their song pf praise when the Egyptian army drowned. They acknowledged that the Lord is a God like no other, but they did not fully understand who the Lord is, or what God is able to do. Even if they remembered that God is their deliverer, they have not yet experienced again and again that God is also their provider.

The manna as a test teaches us about habitual dependence. God could have provided it once and given the Israelites everything they needed for their wilderness wandering, but He didn’t. He gave them only enough for the day. Every demand God makes of us is a test of faith. When God asks us to do something that stretches us, we have to decide: Are we going to trust a gut feeling that says it’s just too much for us to handle, or are we going to trust what God says is the right thing to do? God often asks us to do the impossible so we’re forced to depend on Him.

There are some things that can’t be stored up for tomorrow. Yesterday’s manna can’t be used as food for today. It can’t be hoarded. It is there in the morning, and we can use it until evening, but tomorrow we’ll have to gather it again. There is no laying in of a supply, then sleeping late the rest of the week. Some things are a daily affair. When we come to Christian experience, yesterday’s manna won’t keep. Faith can’t coast. It’s a daily thing.

The manna speaks God’s eternal word. The God who sent manna sends our daily bread and we are dependent upon Him. That daily bread can’t be stored up and hoarded. It is fresh every morning, but equally deep in the meaning of this truth is the explanation Jesus gave in His wilderness hunger in Matthew 4:4: “It is written ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.’”

The manna from heaven is a vivid picture of Jesus Christ, who is “the bread that came down from heaven.”

1. The sweetness. Manna was sweet to the taste. It was described in Numbers 16:31 as wafers with honey. Jesus Christ is sweet.
2. The life. Manna was essential for life. If the people did not eat it, they would die. Jesus is essential to life. There is no life apart from Him.
3. The longing. Manna whetted the appetite for more. It was designed to satisfy and sustain until the people arrived in the Promised Land, that long awaited land that flowed with milk and honey. Jesus is sweet and wonderful, but knowing Christ in this life just whets the appetite for what lies ahead.

God wants to give us good gifts, but He does so in order to be better known and loved. When we begin to desire the gifts more than the giver of the gift, it may be time for us to be led out into the barren terrain of the wilderness. The character of God’s people is hammered out on the anvil of this fierce landscape.

God often tests us by giving us specific instructions to follow. He wants to know whether we’ll obey Him in faith, or just do things the way we always have. We need to remember that because the Lord has our best in mind, He is always trustworthy.

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, pp. 95-96)
2. Dunnam, M., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 2: Exodus (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1987; pp. 175-189)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010)
6. Callie Plunket-Brewton, “Commentary on Exodus 16:2-15.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
7. Sara M. Koenig, “Commentary on Exodus 16:2-4,9-15.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
8. Rick Warren, “When God Tests You, He’s Stretching You.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
9. Dr. David Jeremiah, “New Year’s Resolutions-Resolve to Complain Less.” Retrieved from www.DavidJeremiah.org
10. Pastor Jeff Schreve, “Got Manna?” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/fromhisheart/