It’s the “Back to School” time of year and that means we have to stop with the summer fun and get back into a routine. I was in my Bible the other day and I felt like looking back at the basics is where God wanted me to go in my quiet time as well. Lately He has me studying the foundation of our faith, Jesus and His work on the cross. I was honestly kind of in a rut and the Lord led me back to the cross. He had me stare at the cross and what Jesus has done for me. I realized that I liked to skim over that. It’s hard to look at afterall, it makes me sad, sorry and uncomfortable so I tend to push it to the side and look at something more “fun”. I asked God to wake me up and reignite a fire. To Jesus is where He took me. As I was studying Jesus I found myself studying a very controversial topic…... “bread”.
Americans are obsessed with bread. Whether it is gluten free, low carb, whole wheat, white, sprouted, sourdough or made from coconut flour, many of us love (or miss) BREAD. It’s like a love- hate relationship. I hate that I love it! It is beautiful, soft and when warm and fresh from the oven it can taste heavenly. But then after you eat it, many of us feel regret, sometimes it causes allergy reactions or we worry it will go straight to our hips. What is a Christian woman to do? In our low carb culture many of us just avoid bread like the plague! Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” several times in scripture. We use bread during communion. Jesus compares himself to many things and BREAD is most certainly one of them.
Something I noticed just the other day was that not only does Jesus compare himself to bread, he compares himself to MANNA! I never really absorbed that part before. I have read and re-read those verses about Jesus being the bread of life and studied all about manna as the miraculous provision from God for the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. Yet, I never put the two together until recently when studying God’s Word. And guess what, they most certainly go together. Let me show you!
John 6:28-35, “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus is calling himself the bread of life in comparison to Old Testament manna in these verses. So, we should know more about this manna Jesus is comparing himself to.
Manna was unlike anything they had ever seen or tasted. Manna in the Hebrew literally means “whatness”, “what is this?” (Remember a whatchamacallit candy bar :)
What is the most exotic thing you’ve ever eaten? I ate a dessert in the Caribbean once that came out on special plate with vented holes and dry ice underneath. It was all smokey and mysterious! I had that feeling of excitement and wonder. I bet that is what they thought the first few times they saw manna!
Exodus 16:15, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.”
Manna miraculously rained down each night with the dew. Manna was described as “like coriander seed, white and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” (Exodus 16:31) It was also described in Numbers 11:7 as to be the color of bdellium. Bdellium is a fragrant resin produced by a number of trees related to myrrh, used in perfumes. (Myrrh was one of the gifts given to Jesus at his birth and was used ceremonially for embalming the dead)
Another interesting insight to manna as described in Numbers 11:7 as looking like “resin”. This word also appears in Genesis 2:10 at the beginning of creation. “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
The provision of manna in the wilderness is fascinating! If you have ever studied the Sabbath rest you will see that God commanded the Israelites to collect enough manna for just one day of eating. They were to collect only enough for one day, except for the day before the Sabbath they were allowed to collect double so they could properly rest. If they took more than a day’s worth it would be full of maggots the next day. (Exodus 16)
Why did God choose manna to feed His people? Deuteronomy 8:16 says, “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”
-Manna was sustenance - we all need food to survive our journey.
-It was unknown to anyone, you couldn’t compare it to anything before or after.
-Manna was an instrument of humility. It is very humbling to be completely dependant on someone daily.
-Manna was a test of obedience to God’s instructions. There was only one way to handle it. HIS WAY! Any attempt to do it their own way turned out disastrously wrong.
-Moses had a jar put into the Ark of Testimony as hard evidence for God’s people to always remember what He had done for them those 40 years of wandering. (Ex 16:32, Heb 9:4) I find it so interesting that if they tried to collect double it would spoil, but Moses was able to put a jar full of it in the Ark of the Testimony and it didn’t!
If there is one thing I want you to remember is that every time you read in scripture the phrase “Jesus is the bread of life” hear in your head “Jesus is the MANNA of life.” Not just bread, like plain white Wonder bread (is that still a thing at the grocery store???) , but MANNA!!! Manna is a supernatural provision from God, daily gifted, we are dependant on, should be respected and evidence of a GOOD FATHER providing for His children as we wander down here in the wilderness, waiting to cross over into the Promised Land!
I love this parallel! Jesus is the “MANNA of Life!”
That’s all nice and pretty, packaged for us and served in a beautiful bread basket, but it comes with a warning. If we keep reading in Numbers 11 we see what happened when the Israelites grew tired of God’s ways. They were miraculously provided for with a perfect food just for them and what was their response? They grew bored. Became ungrateful. Took God for granted.
We must continue to meet with Jesus, daily! If we keep our eyes fixed on the miraculous provision God made for us through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross we will not grow bored. We need to guard our hearts and attitudes to not take this gift for granted as the Israelites did.
They grumbled and complained. First it was all about how hard the journey was. (Numbers 11:1-3) God sent a fire to burn in the camp. They cried out and the fire died down. Then they started wailing again about being tired of manna.
Aghhhhhh. One of the things that drives me absolutely crazy is when I do something big for my kids and they grumble and complain the whole time! Like fly them to Disneyland and they fight the whole time we are in the park! Or when I spend all night cooking something nice for dinner and they cry I cut their food the wrong way or didn’t serve it on the right color plate. I get why God burned the camp. It is frustrating!
Numbers 11:4, “The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! Remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
People, stop looking backwards. Keep your eyes forward! It is so very important to guard our minds from outside negative influences. Something I noticed in this section was the word “rabble”. There was a group of people mixed in among them from Egypt. They were not part of God’s people but came along during the Exodus. The extra people were not all that came along. So did their stinky attitudes, discontentment and complaints. It spread through the camp like a flu virus. Verse 10 says Moses heard wailing from every family. It started out in the rabble and spread to every family!
Have you ever experienced this? You are going along through life, dealt a less desirable hand and are coping, but then someone comes along and starts talking in your ear. Telling you it’s not fair. That you were better off before? Things were more fun, more variety, more control……..You start to question yourself, your choices, God? The rabble will lead us astray if we let them.
For the rabble and complaining Israelites, God gives them what they ask for. It was in form of quail and He drove it to them by winds in enormous quantities. Actually it was a plague. Those that ate and ate were struck with sickness and instantly died. Those who did eat the quail were the rabble and now mixed in some Israelites It wasn’t everyone or the story would have ended right there for God’s chosen people, but the Israelites who did die that day were led astray by the rabble. Be careful who you listen to. Don’t let the rabble share with you their contempt for a God they don’t even know.
Let that sink in for a moment.
A GOD THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW!
Who are you listening to that is telling you how you should feel about God? Do they even know Him? Trust Him? Would you accept the opinion about someone from a person that didn’t know them in real life? They form an opinion from their perception of others’ experiences or relationship. It’s like reading a tabloid article about someone and believing what the writer who most likely has never met that person says is all true.
One of my daughters dated a boy her first year in college who was not a believer. She said every time they got in the car he wanted to poke holes in her faith and debate with her. It became exhausting and she broke up with him. He was the rabble! Thank God she didn’t listen to him! There will ALWAYS be rabble in our lives. They are people who are drawn to God’s people and mix in. Don’t be afraid of the rabble, just be sure you are speaking truth to them about who God really is and don’t fall for their perception.
So here is the “Back to Basic” we can always return to: Jesus is the MANNA of life!
He is our miraculous provision from heaven.
Turn to Him daily and be filled.
Guard your heart and mind and don’t allow yourself to grow contempt, boredome or take God’s blessings for granted!!! Try to stay thankful. Trust HIM on your life’s journey. He is trustworthy!
