Exodus 16 Devotional

Enough for Each Day

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.”Exodus 16:4 (BSB)

A month out of Egypt, the people remember sitting by pots of meat and accuse Moses of bringing them into the desert to starve (16:3). God answers with bread. Every morning thin flakes lie on the ground (16:14-15). Each gathers what his household needs, and when they measure it, no one has too much and no one too little (16:17-18).

The manna came with a lesson in daily trust. Kept overnight, it bred maggots and stank (16:20). On the sixth day God gave twice as much, so that the Sabbath could be a day of rest and a gift (16:23, 29). God was teaching his people to depend on him one day at a time, and he fed them this way for forty years (16:35). Jesus later called himself the bread of life, the true bread the Father gives from heaven (John 6:32-35), and taught his followers to ask for today's bread (Matthew 6:11). You do not need tomorrow's supply to trust the God who is faithful this morning.

To think about: What are you trying to secure for tomorrow that God may be asking you to trust him for one day at a time?