Exodus 16:11-16, 21-23, 31 (NIV) 11 The LORD said to Moses, 12"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.' " 13That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' " 21Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' " 31The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
Matthew 4:2-4 (NASB) 2And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"
"If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." The temptation is in the word “command.” Take charge. Take command, and demand that these stones become bread. You need it. You have a right to it. You deserve it, and you can do it. Indeed, we have been taught to believe we will be rewarded with success according to our hard work, discipline, and our dogged determination. Jesus says that we do not live by this dogged determination for success, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
That was the lesson taught to the people of Israel in the wilderness. God commanded manna in the morning and the people collected enough for each day and were satisfied. God commanded. The people responded. And it was enough. In the wilderness the people learned that their life depended on and came from their answering God’s call. The story is repeated throughout the scriptures. Noah was called out of the moral decay around him, told to build an ark and was given life. Abraham answered God’s call to leave the splendor of Haran to give birth to a new nation that would be a blessing to all people. Moses was called to deliver the people from bondage to life in the Promised Land.
When we live as a called person, we do not expect God to do for us what we can do for ourselves. But as we face each day, we gather the manna. We read. We study. We think. We pray. We ask and we talk with others. Then we go about our work, doing it as best we can, and trusting that God is at work for us and that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
When we live as a called person, we gather the manna, and we do it in trust, in dependence, and in response to God. The question is no longer whether we are succeeding or failing, but whether we are sensing and answering God’s call.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 15, 1996
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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