Dear Church of the Open Bible,
We all have pantries. We all have a closet with food in it. Some pantries are larger than others. Some have more items than others. But each of us has a closet with food in it. Now, I’m not writing about this because I missed breakfast or because my wife has been away for a few days. I’m writing about this because of Exodus 16 and remembering Israel’s experience coming out of Egypt. After being rescued from Pharaoh by God, it doesn’t take long for their food to disappear and for them to start grumbling. God’s solution of sending manna, food from heaven, is incredible in a couple of ways.
“Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot it melted.” - Exodus 16:21
First of all, the miracle of raining down bread each day of the week (except the seventh), is incredible. Free, Door-Dash ingredients for bread that day, every day! But that brings us to the second thing that’s incredible: the test. They could eat as much of it as they wanted, but there was only enough for that day. If they tried to keep it for tomorrow it would go bad (except for the seventh). I can’t imagine, looking at my empty pantry at the end of the day. I can’t imagine wondering, “What about tomorrow?” Can you imagine the lesson of resisting self-reliance and literally depending on God one day at a time? Can you imagine trusting in His promise to provide for you, one day at a time? What a lesson! This is how we are to live. So let’s empty the spiritual pantries of our lives and live, one day at a time, on every word that comes from the mouth of God.