My teenage daughter loves taking pictures of sunsets; her phone’s camera roll is filled with them. Here in the suburbs of Washington, DC, though, we often admire a beautiful, pink-streaked sky not surrounded by nature but while driving on the highway or walking out of the grocery store.
See How God Provides for You
The other day, she snapped some pictures of the spectacular sky through the car windshield as we drove home. “Every sunset picture I take has stuff in front of it,” she complained after once again taking a photo of the sky over the cars in front of us, some traffic lights, and some telephone lines.
I thought of my daughter’s sunset pictures while reading God’s Provision in a Wilderness World by Lindsay Hausch. The book is a study of the biblical account of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness in the book of Exodus. It reminds us to pay attention to how God provides for our needs, even when (especially when) we’re wandering in a metaphorical wilderness.
Food in the Desert
God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through a series of miracles, including sending plagues to Egypt, parting the Red Sea so that the Israelites could escape as the Egyptians chased them, and manifesting as a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day so that the Israelites knew where to go. There were so many miracles in such a short time! Still, it didn’t take long before the Israelites started complaining. What would they do in the wilderness? Where would they get food and water?
God answered their complaints by providing them with manna—a bread-like substance that miraculously fell from the sky six mornings a week (Exodus 16).
A little over a year after being freed from captivity in Egypt, the Israelites rebelled at the border of the land of Canaan. The Canaanites were strong, with well-fortified cities. The Israelites thought there was no way they could overpower the Canaanites! Despite all the miracles the Israelites had witnessed, they still didn’t trust that God would give them the land He had promised. So God led them back into the wilderness. He would wait until the rebellious generation passed away and then bring in the next generation.
Here’s what amazes me about God’s faithfulness during this time: Every morning (except on the Sabbath), for 40 years, manna fell from the sky (Exodus 16:35). When the Israelites grumbled against God, manna still fell the next morning. When the Israelites made and worshiped a golden calf (Exodus 32), manna fell the next morning. When some people tried to mount a full-fledged rebellion against Moses, God caused an earthquake to swallow up the rebels (Numbers 16). And manna still fell the next morning.
Yet the Israelites went from marveling at the miracle of manna falling from the sky to taking it for granted and even getting tired of it (Numbers 11:4–6). God was so angry that He threatened to destroy all the people except for Moses, but He did not. And manna still fell the next morning.
Our Manna
The story of Israel’s wilderness journey is the story of our fallen human nature. How much “manna” do we see and just take for granted every day? How many of God’s miracles do we ignore? How many beautiful sunsets do we discount because we think they are marred by traffic lights, or ignore because we are in a hurry to finish one last errand?
I’m reminded of Jesus healing the ten lepers in Luke 17:11–19. All ten were healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus. Jesus pointed out the ungratefulness of the nine and then said these words directly to the one who returned: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). The one who thanked Jesus was blessed with extra assurance of both his healing and his faith. The others were still healed, but they missed Jesus’ additional blessing because of their ungratefulness.
When we pay attention only to the next task, a flaw we want to correct, or the traffic light in the photo of a pink-streaked sky, we might miss the everyday miracles of God. We might miss the blessing that comes with thankfulness—an expanded view of our lives in which God works in big ways and small ones. Paying attention to all the moments of goodness, beauty, and truth sprinkled throughout our days orients our minds and hearts toward the God who provides them all. No matter our sinfulness or how much we lack trust in God’s plans for us, He rains down “manna” every day—those “God moments” that point to the love and faithfulness of our eternal Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.
Scripture: ESV®.
See the many ways God blesses us in Lindsay Hausch’s women’s Bible study, God’s Provision in a Wilderness World.
