Our Daily Bread

Every day except Saturday, the people of God went out in the morning and gathered manna. On Saturday they rested. But every day but Saturday they went out and got their food for the day. Fresh bread. Fresh provision from God. Fresh opportunity to trust that morning by morning when they opened their tent flaps and stepped out, it would be there. Manna from heaven. Which gave them a fresh occasion to praise and thank God! Every day was the same. They started each morning receiving something from the Lord, but they did not receive it passively. They had to go out and pick it up, gather their “omer,” their half gallon of manna. And some people might say, so what’s the big deal? Well, on the physical level, they had to wake up and get out of bed every day. They had to get blanket victory and go out to work! We all have to do that. And there are consequences if we don’t. Paul said, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” The idea is that everyone in the wilderness who was physically able to gather manna would be expected to do that. Every day except one. 

But there is another application we need to make, and Moses helps us with it in his fifth book. He  wrote, “And (God) humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” There’s the greater truth of this manna miracle. The Lord was teaching His people through daily provision that we do not live by bread alone. That the sustenance of our soul is not found in bread but in the very words of God. Every word that comes from the mouth of God is for our sustenance, our spiritual health, and that is why we need to feed on it every day. Anyone who eats and drinks enough to sustain the body can live. But only in Jesus can we have life. 

Did you know that Jesus quoted from Moses when He was hungry? Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days and had not eaten. That is about the time that your physical body starts to consume itself. He needed bread. The tempter, Satan, was there to offer Jesus a way to get food. He said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The temptations of Jesus were real. Jesus was hungry. Nearly starving. But His answer was that He would trust God, He would look to His Father, He would not take even one day off, not even one moment off, from being nourished in His very soul from His Father’s love and care for Him.

 God was training His people in the wilderness, sanctifying them, teaching them to look for His provision every morning, first thing. He was teaching them to look forward to it! It will always be there for you. They didn’t have the Bible like we do. Moses hadn’t started writing the first five books yet. But we now have the Word of God scattered all over our houses and on our phones and tablets and laptops. 

I look forward every morning to three things. A cup of coffee. Time in the Word and prayer by myself and then with my wife. And breakfast. 

We talk about spiritual “disciplines” as believers, and we should. But here’s something to think about: anything that becomes a habit does not require discipline. I don’t have to discipline myself in the morning to fix a cup of coffee. It is not a discipline to read the Bible and pray. 

It is a habit. And a delight!