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 assembly 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.'"
In the middle of a desert, God provided water to thirsting people (Ex. 15:22-27). Now, in the midst of exhaustion and starvation, God was providing food by raining bread down from heaven. In both of these divine acts, we see that God often waits until things are challenging and uncomfortable to test His people and teach them that they can trust Him.
The task was simple: gather enough bread for the day, but do not gather any extra. Why? Because they had to believe and trust that God was going to bring more bread tomorrow! They could not save yesterday’s blessings thinking it was going to feed them today! Some tried, but it became rotten and spoiled (Ex. 16:20).
This taught me something about the way I live my life!
Instead of gathering bread, I am often trying to gather up and store the graces of God. I approach life as if God is not going to bring fresh graces or give me new stories, or that I will not get to see Him moving in amazing ways today. So, I store up His graces from the times He has moved in the past hoping that they will keep me encouraged on the dry days of spiritual hunger.
But this verse is challenging me to reconsider my position!
Could it be that God wants to bring fresh instances of grace into my life every single day? Can I begin living out my life expecting God to move on a daily basis? Should I keep my eyes open and ready to see where He is at work – EVERY SINGLE DAY – instead of believing that the glory days of faith are either behind me or in front of me? I think so!
In truth, I cannot survive off of yesterday’s graces and neither can you. Just as we cannot eat stale or rotten food if we want to be healthy, our souls cannot thrive on day-old, week-old, or even year-old graces! We need fresh instances of God at work in our lives every single day!
How can we do this?
By believing and trusting that God has more in store for us tomorrow. By approaching life hungry to see Him provide today! By deliberately and consciously watching for the raining of His graces! And by not thinking we can live off of yesterday’s big stories!
So today, I am going to keep my eyes open. I am going to watch for God to move in my life. I am going to treat every moment like it is His and gather up those blessings and graces today. But when I lay my head down, I will not be content! I want to wake up believing and hungry for more.
