Consider yourself fortunate when God all-powerful chooses to correct you.” -Job 5:17 (CEV)

Last week I shared from Warren Wiersbe’s book, Be Delivered, that we should expect trials. God tests, but never tempts. Through testing, He searches our hearts and reveals to us what is in our hearts (Dt. 8:10). He also sometimes shakes things up to correct and perfect us (Heb. 12:8-11; 1 Pt. 5:10; Rom 5:3-4).

After God performed miracles in the wilderness, the Israelites trusted Him intensely. But in the heat of trials, their trust soon melted into more grumbling.

You may read Exodus 16:4-18 here: Bible Gateway.

Trust God to Supply the Need  

God heard the Israelites’ complaints and mercifully met their needs. He would rain down bread in the morning and meat by evening. In giving these provisions, He was also testing their belief and obedience.

God’s Promises

I am borrowing from Warren Wiersbe’s wisdom again, (now that’s a tongue twister!)

As we journey through life, we live on promises and not explanations. Wiersbe explains: “When we hurt it’s a normal response to ask ‘Why?’ but that is the wrong approach to take. When we ask that question we’re assuming a superior posture and giving the impression that we are in charge and God is accountable to us. God is sovereign and doesn’t have to explain anything to us unless He wants to. Asking ‘why?’ also assumes that if God did explain His plans and purposes to us, we’d understand perfectly and feel better.”

Job is an example of repeating: “I’d like to meet God and ask Him a few things!” But when God does visit Job, Job is so overwhelmed with His presence that He doesn’t ask anything (Job 40:1-5). Wiersbe concludes: “Can we begin to understand the plans and ways of God when His ways are far above us and His wisdom unsearchable (Isa. 55:8-9; Rom. 11:33-36)? Explanations don’t heal broken hearts, but promises do, because promises depend on faith, and faith puts us in contact with the grace of God.”

God’s Glory  

When the going gets tough it’s natural to ask God to get us out of the situation. But He desires that we ask Him: “What can I get out of this?” Wiersbe writes: “God permits trials so that He can build godly character into His children and make us more like Jesus. Godliness isn’t the automatic result of reading books and attending meetings; it also involves bearing burdens, fighting battles, and feeling pain.”

Israel would have glorified God if they walked by faith and focused on Him, not on their own appetites. God desires our trust not only when things go well, but also when things go wrong. This involves a choice: trust God intentionally, or resent His way and rebel.

When we choose to trust God through the storms, He receives the glory and we enjoy His presence. We’re also made more into His likeness.

God’s faithfulness 

God not only provided abundant quail, but also made a sweet spread in the wilderness as He shared “the bread of angels” with His people (Ps. 78:17-25; Ex. 16:31). Manna—man hu in Hebrew from the question: “What is it?”—would be the Israelites’ food for the next 40 years.

God’s Son

(christianphotos-jesusimages.blogspot.com)

After Jesus had fed more than five thousand people with five barley loaves and two small fish, a crowd in Capernaum’s synagogue wanted Him to prove Himself as Messiah by replicating the miracle of manna (John 6:30-31). They mainly followed Jesus because He gave them food to eat. But they—like us—needed something more substantial than food for their bodies. They needed food for their souls (Isa. 55:2).

Jesus declared that He was “the true bread” that came down from heaven. God may have only given Israel manna in the desert, but He gave His only Son, Jesus, for the whole world.

The manna in Exodus was a picture or type of God’s Son. Jesus came to give Himself as the Bread of Life for hungry sinners. The only way to be saved from eternal death is to receive Him into our inner being, similar as the body receives food. Wiersbe puts it this way: “Just as the Jews had to stoop and pick up the manna, and then eat it, so sinners must humble themselves and receive Jesus Christ within. The Jews ate the manna and eventually died, but whoever receives Jesus Christ will live forever.”

Another application to the miracle of manna is the exercise of daily “feeding on Christ” by reading His Word and obeying. Although the Jews in the synagogue thought Jesus was literally speaking about eating His flesh and blood (John 6:52-56), Jesus made it clear that He was referring to receiving His Word (vv. 61-63).

Blessings this Easter as we celebrate our resurrected Lord and King!