ON THE VANGUARD

DAILY MANNA
“Give us today our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11

Last night while I was sitting in church, it hit me. I guess I kind of knew it already, but it jumped out at me last night. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray upon their asking, He named a few specific things in the prayer. He first stated that we should give God honor while still addressing Him as Father. He named that we should pray His Kingdom come and will be done as opposed to ours. He discussed the concepts of forgiving others and not allowing ourselves to be sucked into temptation. But the one piece that stuck out last night while I was listening to the minister was, “Give us today our daily bread.” Why is this piece so important?
Go back in time with me to when the Israelites were following Moses out of Egypt and into the Promise Land. In Exodus 16 we read that the Israelites were grumbling that they had no food to eat. As such, God spoke to Moses that He would provide manna and quail for the people. Along with His provision, however, came the rules. The rules were simple - they were only to take what they needed for that day. In the mornings, each person was to gather an omer (roughly 2 quarts) for each person in their tent. If they took too much, they would wake up to maggots as opposed to manna. But there was one exception to this instruction. On the morning before the Sabbath, they were allowed to take 2 omers as there would be no manna to be gathered during the Sabbath as it was deemed work to go out and collect manna at this time. Those who did not collect a double portion of manna that Friday morning woke up to find nothing waiting to be collected come Saturday morning.
Now, here is where God began to speak to me last night. When Jesus advised His disciples on how to pray, it included the giving of our daily bread. In John 6:48 we read that Jesus states He is the bread of life. So, if I look at it as if Jesus is my manna, then should I not be going out to collect Him daily; to eat of Him and have relationship with Him? In order for the people to eat physically, they had to go collect their daily food. In order for me to eat spiritually, I need to daily be with my Savior. But here is the clincher – I cannot expect yesterday’s manna, or yesterday’s time with the Father, to keep. What happened to those who did not finish their allotment? They woke up to find maggots. What happens if I think yesterday’s portion or quiet time is enough to last into tomorrow? I too will find it has rotted. Therefore I need to daily take of Him, meet with Him, live in Him. On the flip side, though, when the people were told to take the extra because of the Sabbath and did not, they went hungry. I cannot afford to have the daily manna go bad, but I cannot also allow there to be no manna to collect.
So here is the point I want to make, or perhaps I should say the point that was made to me last night. Daily we must meet with God. Daily we must come to Him, get alone with Him and allow Him to minister to us His desires for the day. It is not a time for us to come to Him with our list of demands that He must do. Rather it is a time for us to listen to His heart as He listens to ours; a time where we hear His voice, gather His direction and strength, and allow ourselves to be renewed in His might. Failing to do this with the hope of yesterday’s manna being enough simply won’t cut it. No, instead, He gives us a daily portion. For me, I can see myself in the Israelites. I wonder how I have managed as long as I have with maggot filled food or no food at all, but I am not wanting to continue this trend. I want the daily manna.