Hoarding Our Manna & Quail

Daily Reading: Exodus 16, Psalm 66, Acts 22, Proverbs 7

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

Reading this story in Exodus today got me thinking.

I wonder if there has ever been a time in my life where God was trying to bless me, but I chose not to trust him fully, or perhaps got a little greedy and caused this blessing from God to eventually be filled with metaphorical maggots?

You would think that the Israelites, after seeing the miraculous work of God, would be in complete awe and never dream of deviating from his instructions. The Lord made food appear out of thin air for them, and simply asked that they trust him to do it again each day.

Some people just couldn’t handle the thought of not relying on themselves.

Some had to set aside a little extra because of their lack of faith.

It can be incredibly tricky to trust God fully when things are going wrong in life. When it seems like one thing after another is happening against you, it is only human nature to be frustrated with God. We have to work a little harder to remind ourselves of his unfailing love. We have to give a little extra effort to have faith that he will show up for us again, as he always has in the past.

I think we are all acutely aware that this challenge exists.

However, I think there is a much more stealthy trial that can also occur in our faith journey.

Times of blessing.

During these times of blessing the natural posture of our heart should be one of , “Thank you Jesus! Thank you for your constant provision! Thank you for all that you have done!”

When we are struggling, it can be hard to turn to God at times, because we are unsure if God will be willing to answer or out of frustration that he allowed these trials in the first place.

When we are experiencing God’s favor, it is hard for an entirely different reason.

In these moments, it is far too easy to shift our worship of God to worship of self-reliance.

“Look at what I have accomplished!”

“How can I make sure this keeps going?”

And we end up like the Israelites that went against God and put away some leftovers. God provided in miraculous fashion, and promised to do it again, but they preferred to rely on themselves.

They preferred having a backup plan.

God wants to be your plan A, B, C, D, and so on.

He wants our full mind, heart, and soul.

Today in Psalm 66 we read:

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious.

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing the praises of your name.”

Psalm 66:1-4

So, when God provides, let’s resist the urge to make an idol of sell-reliance, and instead let’s shout for joy to God and praise him for his awesome deeds!

Daily Reflection & Dialogue

Can you think of any times in your life where you were in a season of blessing and yet drifted a bit from God during that time?