Manna from heaven
I am the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51).
Last Lord’s Day, I was encouraged by the ministry of one of my oldest friends on the subject of manna. I have always found that the thoughts of fellow Christians give food for further reflection. The first place to which God took His people as they began their wilderness journey was the waters of Marah. He taught them at the very beginning of the 40 years which lay ahead of them that, whatever they faced, He would bring blessing out of bitterness and reveal Himself as “the Lord, your healer” (Exodus 15:26, ESV). It is a word for us today.
Then He leads them to the beautiful oasis that was Elim to demonstrate His love for them. From this place of refreshment and plenty, they go into the wilderness of Sin between Elim and Sinai. Here we get an insight into how quickly the people forgot the cruelty and violence of their slavery in Egypt. Their whole experience of God was one which demonstrated His care, power and blessing, but once things became arduous, the people complained bitterly. They thought, because their circumstances had changed, God had changed. It is a vital lesson for us to learn that circumstances do change dramatically, as we are learning, but we are to express our faith in our God who does not change. God responded to the complaints of the children of Israel by promising to rain bread from heaven. And He began supplying fresh manna every morning. That supply lasted for the next forty years, until they reached the borders of the Promised Land.
We used to go to a small Christian house party in the South of France in the late summer. Every morning the local baker would come in his old Citroën van with freshly baked bread. We would go to his vehicle to buy our daily provisions. This always reminded me of the manna sent from heaven! But it was different. We did not pick the bread off the ground: we took it from the hand of the person who made it. It is so important to see that God provided the manna, but the people had to collect it for themselves at the beginning of the day. Moses reminds the children of Israel that “God … humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). He taught them the manna was not only a provision of food, but a daily reminder to live their lives by the word of God.
This has an exact bearing on our own pathway of faith. God provides in His word the spiritual food we need each day and delivers it personally to each of our hearts through the Holy Spirit. But we have to be there to receive it. He doesn’t give it to us hastily, or to make us more knowledgeable about the Scriptures. He feeds our souls on the Person of Christ who said, “I am the bread of life … I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (see John 6:48-58). We are invited at the beginning of each new day to come into the presence of God and to open His word so that the Holy Spirit can reveal Jesus Christ to our hearts, and we can hear the voice of the Father saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear him” (Luke 9:35). In this atmosphere, we worship, deepen our knowledge of the Saviour, understand the mind and will of God, pray intelligently and expectantly, and we are prepared for the day ahead.
