We all have these moments in life where God allows us to feel our need so that we learn again where our help comes from. Hunger has a way of exposing the heart. It reveals what we truly believe about God and what we think we need to survive. Israel has already begun complaining. They have accused God of abandoning them. They have blamed Moses. They have twisted the past into something it never was. And yet God does not crush them for their unbelief. Instead He teaches them something deeper. He teaches them to trust Him one day at a time.
Exodus 16:1–21 (ESV)
They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us. And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him, what are we. Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.
Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it. For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over till the morning. But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, This is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning. So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws. See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.
Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, This is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
Israel begins this passage with grumbling. Not mild frustration but full blown despair. They say that slavery in Egypt was preferable to freedom under God. They say it would have been better to die than to be hungry. This is the danger of spiritual forgetfulness. When pressure rises, the past becomes distorted. The memory of Egypt softens. The cruelty fades. The slavery gets repainted as comfort. And when that happens, the heart cannot see the goodness of God in the present.
God does not dismiss their fear. He responds to it. He tells Moses that He will rain bread from heaven. Not grow it. Not lead them to it. He will drop it from the sky. And He tells them why. He is testing them, but not in the sense of a cruel exam. He is forming them. Teaching them. Shaping them. He is making them into people who depend on Him instead of themselves.
They are to gather a day’s portion each day. Not more. Not less. They must trust God tomorrow the same way they trust Him today. This is deeply countercultural. Everything in us wants to stockpile security. We want enough comfort to quiet our fears. But God refuses to let them store their safety in a basket. He is teaching them that true security is found in Him alone. Not in accumulation. Not in control. In Him.
When the quail comes in the evening and the manna in the morning, God provides exactly what they need. Some gather more. Some gather less. But no one has too much and no one has too little. God’s provision is both personal and perfect. And yet when He tells them not to store it overnight, some ignore Him. They hoard. They fear. They cling. And in the morning the manna is full of worms. What we grasp in fear always rots.
This passage shows us something precious about God. He is patient with slow learners. He does not abandon Israel in their grumbling. He meets them in it. He feeds them. He teaches them gently, one morning at a time. God is not merely providing food. He is forming faith.
And the lesson is for us. Many of the seasons where we feel the most needy are the seasons where God is doing His deepest work. He allows hunger so that trust can grow. He allows dependence because it is the pathway to maturity. The wilderness is where God breaks the habits of Egypt and builds the instincts of His people.
So the real question is this. Are you willing to trust God for today. Not for next month. Not for next year. Today. Are you willing to gather what God gives and not cling to what He has not given. Are you willing to believe that the God who saved you will sustain you. If God rains manna only in the morning, will you wait for Him or take matters into your own hands.
Prayer
Father, teach us to trust you for today. Soften our hearts where fear makes us hoard. Help us to depend on you morning by morning. Remind us that you see our needs and meet them in your perfect timing. Thank you that you are patient with us even when we grumble. Shape our hearts to rest in your daily provision and to walk with you in simple obedience. In Jesus name, Amen.