“Give us this day our daily bread..” (Matthew 6:11)
If you are like me, God’s word keeps revealing new truths. You see something, and you say, “Of course, why didn’t I see it before?” It happened a few days ago. We were reading the passage in Exodus, where God sends Manna to the Hebrews. Here are the two verses that I’d never fully appreciated before:
But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (Exodus 16:20)
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. (Exodus 16:27-29)
It’s about how much we trust the Lord, and how much of his provision we grasp at once. “Give us our daily bread”. Lord, give me today as much as I need today. I trust you to give me what I need tomorrow. I trust you to give me rest when I don’t need to be grasping more.
But there’s more than just a trust issue. There’s a greed issue too. If I take more today than I should, the extra is going to stink! If I keep a “safety stock” instead of trusting God, it’s going to rot and stink. If I go gathering when I should be resting, I’m not going to find anything — especially if I do it on the Sabbath, instead of following God’s often-repeated instruction!
So does this mean that we should only ever gather just what we need for one day? I don’t think so. Sometimes God’s provision is to allow us to plan ahead, and sometimes it’s to allow us to share generously with others. The idea is not to gather more than what God intends to provide on any one day — as well as not consuming more than what we need to consume on any one day. It’s also about gathering when God tells us to gather — not just when we feel like it.
The Hebrews didn’t trust God. It’s amazing to me that, so soon after the miracles of the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, they are grumbling and fretting. What a bunch of entitled whiny kids! But things haven’t changed much, have they. I know that there are days when I forget what God’s given me and bother myself about whether He’s going to take care of another need. What an entitled whiny kid I can be! I’m going to try to do better at being grateful and trusting, because I know I’m blessed beyond all reason. It’s what God does.