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My Manna From Heaven

We often criticize the Israelites for being unfaithful while wandering in the desert, always with sinful attitudes, even while daily receiving miraculous food from Heaven. How could they be so blind? How could they be so stupid?

Didn’t they realize they were receiving daily blessings from God? Didn’t they understand that, every single day, God was proving to them that He thought of them, remembered them, and was providing for them?

Every. Single. Day.

Of course, we could never be so blind. That is, unless we put ourselves in their shoes. Then we might not be so quick to judge. We are told they needed to go out and get the amount of food they needed for that day. 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.” ~Exodus 16:4-5
If we imagine what was going in their heads, it might help us to realize what we have in common with them.

I wrote a while ago of how God provided a job for my wife. This was a job that was perfect for her, and continues to be a blessing, a job that came along at just the right time, in a way where it was clear to us that it was of God.

But I also acknowledged that it left me wondering what God has for me. While I wait (and waiting does involve searching) I have been substitute teaching. This isn’t a long term career, but the need in our schools is such that I am able to work every day.

The system is run through a computer program, where I need to go and check, every day, to find out where the need is. I have taught first grade, which left me whimpering in a corner. More often I have taught high school students, which sometimes leaves them whimpering in a corner.

All the while I have been asking God what He intends for me. I have been praying to God that He would provide work for me. All too often, I have overlooked the miraculous daily manna, of which I am holding in my hand.

How could the Israelites have been unfaithful in the midst of God working among them? How can I?

How can we? The realization that God is always in our midst, always at work around us, always taking care of us, is one that should move us to worship Him daily, and perhaps be a bit less judgmental about those who have gone before us.

If you read straight through the Bible, it can be very easy to forget about the manna from Heaven after you leave the middle of Exodus. But have you ever considered when the manna stopped?

While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan. ~Joshua 5:10-12
The manna fell for 40 years! God never forgets His promises to take care of His children. We may forget. We may get busy in our adventures. We may start to concern ourselves with other things. But God is always faithful.

I know substitute teaching will not be my 20 year career. But I hope to walk into each school I am assigned, assured of Who has led me to this point in my life, assured that God has provided this day's work for me, and willing to be a conduit of God’s blessing to others.

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