Manna

 Ex 16:15

When the Israelites 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.”

Two Hebrew words mah and nah form the word manna, and it literally means “What is it?” For the Israelites travelling in the desert had no idea what it was that was lying on the ground that first morning – they saw round and flakelike things, as fine as hoarfrost, strewn around the camp, and they had no idea that it was actually angels’ food that the Lord had sent them to eat (Ps 78:25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance). It tasted like coriander seed and wafers made with honey. They could ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, or boil it in pots, or make cakes of it which tasted like cakes baked with fresh oil (Num 11:8).

A wonderful supernatural blessing straight from the hand of God, and true to His promise, He kept sending it to them until they reached the border of the land of Canaan and could from then on easily find food to eat. Of course, He also sent quails in the evenings for meat as well, so that they did not have to grow food or hunt animals in the arid and hostile desert environment.

But then the day arrived that this marvellous, spectacular blessing from the Lord came to be seen by the Israelites as uninteresting, mundane, run-of-the-mill even (Num 11:6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”)

Before we respond with shock at this, it would be wise to take a very close look at our own lives – are we not doing exactly the same? We receive wonderful blessings from the Lord every day, and we do not even see them anymore. Take the beautiful sunrises and sunsets as examples. Or the way the waves of the sea come and go. What about the migration of birds across thousands of miles around the earth. Or the immeasurable variety of green leaves on plants.

Closer to home, do we still thank Him for the blessing of children and grandchildren in our lives? Or the fact that we have food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear? These are blessings from God, as He promises in Luke 12:22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Do we see it this way, or are we taking His blessings for granted?

Pearls to ponder:

Let Holy Spirit show you how God is blessing you in your life. Be open to appreciate the small happenings that you are not even thinking about, as blessings from God. Begin a habit of finding five things to thank God for every morning as you wake up, and as you write them down, you will start seeing how God’s blessings abound in your life.

Counting my blessings