Manna From Heaven

Something that the Lord has been teaching me lately is how to be faithful in the mundane. The Bible is full of stories about amazing encounters with God. However, these encounters and testimonies that we read about on each page are often the only time that individual has a transformative experience with God. For example, Moses. He only had one burning bush encounter, yet he is one of the most revered figures in the Scriptures. He saw evidence of God's faithfulness when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, but it wasn't until much later in his life that he met with God again when receiving the 10 Commandments.

It might be just me, but I think sometimes Christians put so much emphasis on life-changing encounters with God that we forget that is not what our everyday life looks like. Moses was not experiencing something like the burning bush daily. But he did wander for 40 years in the wilderness. And how did he and the Israelites experience God and His faithfulness during that time?

In Exodus 16, we read about how God rains down manna from heaven while the Israelites are in the desert. He gives them the food that they need daily, and any extra that they kept would be bad by the next day. The Israelites ate manna and quail every day for the forty years that they were in the desert. And to answer the age-old question, if I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would definitely not be flaky bread.

One of my favorite songs right now is "Manna" by Chris Renzema, and one of the lines in it says: "even when I've lost my taste for manna, it comes from heaven all the same." I so often forget that doing life daily with the Holy Spirit is not flashy and hyped up as we expect it to be. But it's beautiful and consistent and fulfilling. God's perfect daily provision is not thrilling, but it is faithful. And that's where He calls us too.

I grew up in a Christian environment, and I accepted Christ as my Savior at a young age. While I have had amazing experiences with the Holy Spirit and seeing the Lord's divine faithfulness, most of my life has been spent earnestly trying to remain faithful to the Lord and experience His goodness in the everyday parts of life. One of the things I have discovered is when I am faithful to God, my eyes are much more opened to the things He is doing to provide for me and bless me. On the days that I don't spend even a little bit of time meditating on Scripture or in prayer, I can tell a difference. I need the Holy Spirit so much to fill me up with love and grace for others - or else I'm just not a nice person or a good example of a follower of Christ. But when I am intentional about creating space to seek the Lord, even if just for a few minutes that morning, it is so much easier for me to recognize how God is providing for me.

This seems like a silly example, but there was one night this past week that I barely got any sleep, and it was not good sleep either. When I got to school that morning, I was praying that the Holy Spirit would help me be exactly what my students needed that day, even though I was exhausted and knew that "my all" was going to look different that day. I got an email that morning asking if my students could come in for extra music practice for the performance they are preparing for, and this time was outside of their designated specials time. Though it seems small, I recognized it as God's faithfulness. He knew that I was weary and probably would grow more frustrated at my students had I been with them all day. He provided me with the rest I needed to finish the rest of the day. 

When we are faithful in seeking the Lord out, we will easily recognize when He provides for us. Even though it may not seem like much, it comes from heaven all the same.