September 30th - Exodus 16:11–12

Exodus 16:11–12 Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” We cannot be sure how many Israelites left Egypt, but it was certainly many thousands. Feeding such a group of people would have been a massive logistical exercise in any location, but to do so in a desert would seem an impossible task. But God had an answer and, miraculously, throughout their 40 years of wilderness wanderings, the people were fed. In the evening, they fed on quails, which are migratory birds belonging to the partridge family. On their long flights quails would often become exhausted in the evening and large flocks of them would land on the desert floor and be easy to catch. In the morning the people were supplied with bread which was called manna, a word that literally means “What’s that?” because that’s what the people said when they first saw it. It was a drop-like substance formed from the excretion of an insect living on the trees and shrubs of the region, especially the tamarisk tree. In these amazing ways the people were fed. One of the recurrent themes of the Bible is that God provides. Abraham made this discovery when he was about to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. God provided a ram for the sacrifice that Abraham needed to make and Abraham named the place “Jehovah Jireh”, which means “The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). Through the twists and turns of the history of God’s people in the Bible, he continued to provide for them. The apostle expressed exactly this same confidence in God when he wrote: “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Our needs are totally different from those of the wandering Israelites, but we serve the same God and we can be confident that, as we place our trust in him, he will give us what we need day by day. Question In what ways have you seen God provide for your needs? Prayer Loving God, I thank you that your name is still Jehovah Jireh. I praise you that you have provided for me in the past and always will. Amen