Manna for Today

I love writing this blog. It is an important part of my faith walk. Each week I pray that God will put a topic on my heart, and each week for more than a year now He has been faithful to do so.

Often as I unpack the topic He has given me, new truths emerge that deepen my faith. The workings of the Spirit through this weekly act of worship truly bless my life (and I pray yours too).

But that’s not what makes it a faith walk. If you know me, you know patience is not a virtue I possess (or really aspire to). I hate waiting! I like to work fast and ahead of schedule. If I had my way I would have posts drafted through at least the end of the year.

Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I will stand up to testify.”

Zephaniah 3:8

And yet I have had to learn to wait on the Lord every week to receive my topic, no shortcuts. That’s not to say I haven’t tried, but when I do I come up blank. Literally. Either I have no idea what to write, or if I have a topic I am unable to develop it. I get this feeling in my gut when I land on God’s idea; it’s assurance mixed with adrenalin, and as it forms it generates overwhelming energy that pushes me irresistibly to my keyboard. Then I write with urgency, clarity and an acute focus on what God would have me say. It’s in these moments that I am reminded how grateful I am not to be the one in charge here…or elsewhere in my life.

…to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us

Ephesians 3:20

DAILY Bread

The image God has brought to my mind over and over again as I wrestle with this blog is that of manna. He used manna to provide for the Israelites on an as-needed basis, one day at a time.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

Exodus 16:4

When I think of manna I imagine it looking like tiny Communion wafers. 

It turns out this is no coincidence. Dependence on God for our daily bread does have literal significance. God wants us to trust Him to provide for our physical needs.

This daily dependence is difficult for a rebellious-minded people like us, what God called being a “stiff-necked” people. We want to be in control, and thus we seek to stockpile what we can to give ourselves the illusion that we are capable of meeting our own needs:

Some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.

Exodus 16:20

God wouldn’t tolerate that from the Israelites, nor will He tolerate it from us; and this is for our own good. For whatever it is we look to — other than Him — to provide our security, well-being and abundance will lead us to a place of want, scarcity and unquenchable hunger and thirst.

Bread of LIFE

Instead, God offers us spiritual sustenance and abundance through daily dependence on his son, Jesus:

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

For it was Jesus who promised:

I am the bread of life;

he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:35

Walking in faith each day means trusting these five statements of faith, articulated so beautifully by Beth Moore in her study, “Believing God“:

1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
5. God’s word is alive and active in me.

How does it look to live these promises, in my blog and in our daily rhythms of life?

I’m still learning the answers myself, but here is what I’ve learned over the past year through my blog:

• Wait on the Lord. God is faithful and He is capable. He will give me what I need.
• God’s timing is perfect. I like to publish my blogs on Thursday afternoons, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. I am learning to trust that God has a purpose in His timing. Perhaps a message is meant to reach one person in a specific time of need.
• God’s metrics are eternal. While I fight the temptation to obsess over my blog’s metrics, seeking to validate if it matters to anyone at all, God sees it differently. My blog exists for His glory, to reflect His light into the lives of others. And it is one of an infinite number of ways He is about this work daily. His grand plan is to save as many souls as possible and there is no worldly metric for that.
• My work is to trust and obey. Each of us is given an assignment by God that allows us to participate in His salvation story. What Mordecai told Queen Esther also is true for each of us (paraphrased):

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place…but you have come to your position for such a time as this.

Esther 4:14