Bible Reading for September 12 – Exodus 16:16-21

Why do we Americans have such a hard time trusting that God will provide for us? Why do we constantly try to handle everything ourselves? Well, today’s passage shows us that this problem is not unique to us.

Now, remember what’s going on here. God has promised literally to shower food upon His people. He has told them that all they have to do is go out and gather it up. And they actually saw this miracle – they touched it and tasted it. Moreover, verse 18 makes it plain that God made sure that everyone had exactly enough for their daily needs. In fact, Moses specifically told them not to try to save any of it for the next day, but to rely on God to provide enough for them each day. They thus had every reason to expect that God would keep His promise to repeat the same miracle the following day.

But verse 20 makes it clear that some of them refused to trust God. Some of them weren’t convinced that the manna would be there for them the following day, and so they tried to save some of it, just in case God didn’t keep His word. Of course, such faithless efforts were completely futile. Not only did they miss out on part of the first day’s food – what they tried to hoard spoiled before the next day dawned.

And God is trying to bless us in the same sort of way, if we’ll just trust in His promises. Oh, He may not shower us with physical food, but He has given us the Bread of Life in Jesus Christ, who fills us with every spiritual blessing. God has also blessed us Americans in so many material ways, allowing us to earn so much more than we need, providing a standard of living for us that is the envy of the world today.

But no matter how much we have, our challenge is the same as that which faced those Ancient Israelites – to trust that God will provide for us morning by morning, that He will indeed give us each day our daily bread, doing everything necessary to draw us closer to Him and to equip us for His service. So instead of clinging to what we have in fear of losing it, let’s enjoy the blessings of each day, trusting God to give us exactly what we need.

Exodus 16:16-21 (ESV)

16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.'”
17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.
18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”
20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.