Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. Exodus 16:4
Today’s text reminds us of the line on the so-called Lord’s Prayer: Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11, Luke 11:3). Because that is exactly what the Lord did for the Israelites for 40 years, until they entered the promised land. Every morning, except for the Sabbath, the manna was waiting for them to collect for the day’s eating. This was an amazing miracle, although there were times when the people failed to appreciate it. Their task was to go and collect it every day, and there was always enough. And it had to be gathered fresh every morning because Monday’s manna bred worms and stank on Tuesday. We don’t have such a physical supply today, but God has a spiritual bounty available for us every day.
We gather our spiritual manna every day from the Word of God. What we gathered yesterday will not do for today, because today’s need differ from yesterday’s; the enemy’s attacks will be different, the opportunities for service and witnessing will be different, and the challenges we face will be different. So we daily gather what we need and appreciate the supply.
Our text tells us that the people were to gather a certain rate every day. How much they gathered depended on the person; everyone was different. It’s the same with our spiritual manna. The Lord supplies – in our daily reading – what we need for that day, depending on our individual needs.
Many sermons have been preached and many lessons have been taught about the wonderful bounty of manna that God provided for His people. But the most important lesson for us to take from it today is our daily need to gather what we need from God’s bounty for us. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/RLEA_j1VVbY