Manna From Heaven

I’ve taken some much needed down time in recent weeks, so I’m a little behind in sharing my journey. While I’ve been down, it has still been a very fruitful time. As I reflected and then wrote in my journal yesterday and interesting image came to mind. I remembered the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert and receiving the gift of manna. The gift of the manna to the Israelites was a daily gift from the God who walked with them and cared for them everyday. Each day the gift was not only the physical sustenance for a wandering people but it was the spiritual fulfillment of the covenant promise of God. Each day’s feeding was the reminder that God was not going to leave them.

I’ve come to find a special place in my heart in this story. It links me powerfully to the reminder of the Lord’s Prayer of God’s sustaining power when we pray “give us this day our daily bread.” It is neither mistake, nor a random inclusion into the prayer when Jesus included this beautiful phrase to His instructive prayer. Whether we are remembering the manna or praying each day for daily bread we are called into remembrance that it is the Providential God that we’ve come to know in Jesus that can and desires to meet our daily needs for life and sustenance.

As I reflect on and pray through my devotions, I’ve come to understand this story in a deeper and more nuanced way. I’m growing more and more into a discipline of daily worship and prayer and more regular journaling and reading in spirituality. I’m beginning to discover that I need to do this not simply because regular practice helps build th