Man or Manna
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. Exodus 16:4 NASB
Bread from heaven– Manna. Literally, “What is it?” This unknown, mysterious food that descends from heaven for a day. Ah, except that completely unfathomable extra day lack of decay. Manna. The stuff they can’t live without, but is totally outside of their understanding, as is the whole wilderness experience. Freed from Egypt, each one of the Israelite adults will now die in the unknown emptiness of the wilderness. Is it just punishment, or is something else happening? Kornberg suggests:
“The forty-year midbar journey was intended as a difficult odyssey of self-understanding, a reconnaissance mission into the human heart. The manna is essential wilderness food, unknown, uncanny; but precisely in its unknowability it will open a new kind of knowledge: ‘that man does not live on bread alone but on what issues from God’s mouth.’ The sentence communicates the mystery of the manna: it stirs up the question—What is it that can sustain human life?”[1]
What do they learn in the wilderness? Well, first they learn that lack of trust has terrible consequences. Perched on the edge of the Promised Land, they will now turn back to the inhospitable waste to die ignominious deaths. But in the course of this extended execution, the people learn a few other things, one of which is this: no one can survive the wilderness experience without the graceful benevolence of God. Manna is His version of daily bread. Take it or die!
Of course, there are other lessons as well, lessons about leadership, authority, humility, obedience, community, and worship. But none of those lessons would have come about without this one: manna, the “What is it?” of God’s provision. We tend to consider only the miraculous element of manna. We forget that we too wander in the wilderness. True, it might not look like the Sahara or the Negev, but it can be just as desolate regardless of the population and the convenience store selling bread. Emptiness is a state of mind. The wasteland is a function of the soul. Zornberg’s question is just as valid for us. “What is it that can sustain human life?”
Perhaps you’ve tried to answer this question with homage to human supremacy. Perhaps you’ve built your “city,” that place of refuge from the howling wasteland that provides the illusion of safety and control. There are so many substitute diversions available. Manna doesn’t seem necessary anymore. But it is, isn’t it? All of our human inventions to keep chaos at bay are nothing more than placebos, lulling us into spiritual stupor. We need a taste of manna so that we will be confronted with the essential mystery of being alive. Until we ask, “What is it?” we will end up like the Israelites, absorbed into the desert.
Topical Index: manna, bread from heaven, wilderness, Exodus 16:4
[1]Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, Bewilderments: Reflections of the Book of Numbers, p. xvii.
I think the appetites of earth can give us the sense that the satisfaction of them will provide us with life – and love (addictive seratonin rushes), too. The fruit hangs down within reach: all we have to do is pick it. Nowhere in here does there even have to be a thought – much less conviction – that real life comes only from the Hand. Nowhere in here is asking for daily bread even a prerequisite, and being thankful is only an added ‘bonus’ – a bone we toss heavenward as a careless afterthought or a ‘generous’ nod to God: after all, we are well aware that OUR efforts, choices, desires ‘provided’ what we are consuming.
And then we get sick, lose the job, disqualify for the insurance; even develop the food allergies, perhaps, or step onto the scale and realize that the appetite gratification ended up as a predisposition to illness. Was it really life or love after all that the satiation of earth’s desires ‘provided’, or were we really just backing up; shortening the telemeres (the life extensions on the ends of our DNA strands that determine how long (or short) we have the ability to keep reproducing new cells); the breath in our lungs; or the strength of our hearts? Where does life really come from? Did we really get it from the indulgence of the desires of the flesh after all?
What is it, after all: life, that is? Were we really ‘lengthening’ life with all that self indulgence/distraction, or were we just prolonging the stents in our personal deserts: busy dying until we were dead – as per self-induced curse – instead of living until then? What actually does give us real life each moment? Did we really not have it all along because we forgot to stop and listen (actions of faith) for the instructions – the still small Voice BEHIND us (in the future) instead of the fruit hanging in front of us (in the split-second, congealed ‘past’, or, death, that we can see) – those instructions, minute by minute: “this is the way, walk over here”? Is it really ‘too late’ to live now – now that we can see that the choices of the past we thought were our ‘own’ (but were actually serving sin) were all really just consigning us to the shortening of our future? Can life start even here – that is, if we would decide to start listening to the still, small Voice today? Can there be healing and deliverance even after we ate the last husk we could cram into our mouths and indulged in the final fantasy? I am asking myself. Perhaps I should ask the still, small Voice, too.
If all of God’s word is alive in current, all of us must ask the question, what is it? Including myself. We all believe in the entirety of God’s revelation to man. Is spoken word in written form. In the beginning the Book of Genesis, Origins, the beginning places of accounts, Genesis 2 and God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils life. Interesting God himself gives away what makes him live. No other finer example, he who builds his house upon the rock is a wise man, all other ground is sinking sand. Then my final experience, the kingdom of heaven. Paradise, two thieves on the cross, one saying truly you are the son of God. Yeshua replies today you will be with me in Paradise. I see these as some of the ground rules of being with the presence of God. I heard someone say recently, Abraham wasn’t looking for God oh, God was looking for Abraham I meant that he could trust. That’s Grace. We are saved by grace through faith, and not of works of ourselves that no man can boast. It’s all God’s doing. We continue to follow God by listening to his instructions, and he follows by signs and wonders. Peter would add I am crucified with Christ yet I live it is not me it is Christ in me he does the works. Are people looking at me or you. Or what God does to bless us. Shalom
P. S. Have your ears and eyes open spiritually to be fed tomorrow prepare yourself and hold on. And guard his word in your heart that you might not sin against him. You are a blessing oh, because you are blessed.
B. B.
Such a good word Laurita, hugely thought provoking. Thank you for making it practical and workable.
Isaiah tells us we can buy bread and wine without money. We must listen carefully to Him, eat what is good, and delight ourselves in abundance. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen that you may live.” We are conditioned to listen to our own thoughts, mystery religion and atheistic science. Yet, it must be possible to shama His Voice or He wouldn’t require that of us. I believe He can still pardon our iniquities, redeem our lives from the pit and satisfy our years with good things so our youth is renewed like the eagle. I recently watched a baby discover his hands. He was filled with the essential mystery of being alive. I believe YHVH is Wonderful enough to restore wonder even when we are old. Thank you Skip and Laurita for sharing your hearts today.
Faith fills the gap.
It’s that pure substance that answers the “What is it?” and
“Huh?” questions.
God has uniquely designed our beings and minds to
inevitably find Him as we bump into His goodness
constantly whether we know it or not.
It’s just His way. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Go ahead, taste. See? See!
Faith is that uncanny real experience of discovering who
He is . . . and the all-ness that He supplies.
As Romans 1:20 speaks of God’s obviousness, “so that men
are without excuse.”
John 4:34 came to mind. “Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”
Was he thinking of Exodus 16:4, when he said this? The ideas seem to be mirrored.
The verse that you used, Exodus 16:4, speaks to me in regards to the character of God. It also raises questions. The words, “that I may test them“. Why does God feel the need to test us? Was he doing that when he laid out the guidelines in the Garden? Didn’t he already know what we were going to do/what we do?
Hey Larry, here’s something you might consider. To test or prove someone is to expose a weakness and if we left it there, God wouldn’t be any different than the world we live in as, a weakness exposed is an advantage to be exploited. To test is to train in rightness, note that when the people were told that a double portion would be given to them on the 6th day but none on the 7th, some still showed up on Sabbath expecting manna. The question for us is, do we listen to the detail of what God says to us. I’m pretty sure no one showed up the next sabbath looking for bread, they were being trained by the testing, not condemned. Such is the testing of our faith, to build not destroy.
Thank you for that clarification RL
I’m comforted by the provision, the wilderness as Gods perfected design. Moses came to learn about being sustained there as he shepherded sheep. He knew where water was to be found or pasture to be found reliably and dependably throughout the seasons. He moved throughout the region with some expectation of supply to be found. Manna may be a named or not named material but it was always there each day, substance that carried over the sabbath even.
No matter what I receive from Him, it is enough.
There were those who would die in the wilderness, but they continued to receive supply there. It was the survivors of those 38 plus years that watched and saw them die, all the while they themselves were equally supplied.
I choose right now to partake only of what He supplies, and am tested in the choice I’m allowed to provide for myself.
So I can connect that physical provision to the instruction He gives, moderated by Him, and doled out as I need it. Lead me home Father.