Manna intrigues me. It was something no one had ever seen before, or has seen since. It came straight from God in a very visible way. It was good, refreshing, and nourishing. The Israelites could bake it or boil it. And God gave exactly what everyone needed every day.

One commentator I read suggested I put myself in a Jewish sandal for a moment. Their food supply was spent. They went to bed hungry every night, and parents knew their children were starving. Is it any wonder they complained to their leader?

And is it any wonder that, when that first manna came down from heaven, some hoarded a bunch? They had learned to go to bed each night with no food in the fridge, and it was pretty understandable they wanted a backup plan in case the manna didn’t come again in the morning.

But the manna came. And their hoarded food spoiled. Lesson: Trust God even when things look  hopeless. The Israelites learned they could go to bed at night without any food in the house and no means of supplying food on their own, and trust that God would provide. Every. Day.

Sometimes I can lie awake in bed at night and worry over a situation, or plot a plan of action just in case. I need to learn from the Jews and trust God to supply exactly what I need. When will I learn to pray believing in every situation?

Scripture has been likened to manna. Jesus told us He is the Bread of Life. And Jesus taught us to pray “… give us this day our daily bread…”

Jill Briscoe, in her book “Here Am I… Send Aaron,” points out an important lesson from this account in Exodus 16. If God’s Word is manna, and Jesus is the Bread of Life, how’s my diet?

Most of us have probably been “hangry” a time or two in our lives. You know that irritable feeling that comes from being hungry. Isn’t it Snickers that has the commercial that tells us, “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry”? Been there. Done that.

But how many angry Christians do you know? Christians who complain about the pastor, who divide the fellowship with malicious gossip, who find fault in every decision, and who blame God when they don’t get their way. Jill suggests those kinds of Christians aren’t collecting manna.

We are all created with a hunger to know God. And God has supplied the manna in the pages of the Bible. But if we don’t read it, think on it, pray over it every day, we are starving ourselves. Too many people expect the pastor to feed them a week’s worth of manna on Sunday. They have reason to be “hangry” if that’s the case. They are starving!

Jesus prayed, “give us this day…”  God does. We just need to collect it this day, and every day. If we feed our souls, feast on God Word, ingest our Bread of Life daily, we will be healthy, productive children of God.

If we don’t, well… it’s not God’s fault.