THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT

Manna means "what is it"? It could as easily mean "what God provides. Even after griping."

Sometimes it's hard to know why God loves us. When the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt (Ex 12:31), it wasn't long before the complaints began.

The water wasn't good. God, through Moses, provided. Then they were hungry and moaned, "if only we had died in Egypt. There we had pots of meat and all the food we wanted." (Ex 16: 3)

Again God provided--at dusk meat, at dawn manna ( bread or cracker with the taste of honey). They were to gather it and eat their fill but were warned not to save any. And, of course, they obeyed. Yeah, right. When they saved the manna, they found it was wormy the next day, so it did them no good to disobey.

And how they learned from that lesson! Again, yeah right. They were told not to collect manna on the Sabbath for there would be none since it was a day of rest. Some tried anyway(s) to see if it was there. And the manna they had collected from the morning before was still fresh on the Sabbath.

The story doesn't end there. But my point does. Don't think that we would have acted any differently on this side of the cross, because too many other times it has been proven we would have acted in the same way. "When will they ever learn?" is a line from a 60's song. It still applies. God provides. All we have to do is trust Him. When we see His provisions, let's hope we don't ask, "What is it?"