Day 31 with Moses: We can’t live without the Bread from Heaven.

“And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children 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, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭16:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I heard a story once that has stuck with me for a long time. A group was ministering to orphaned children, casualties of War World II. They found that when the children first got there—even though they were fed—they still seemed to have great anxiety and couldn’t seem to sleep well. One of the people decided to try something to calm the anxious children, something that sounds odd. You see, they tried giving the children some bread to sleep with. This simple act seemed to calm the children’s troubled souls; they knew they would have something to eat in the morning.

The fact is, we can’t survive very long without sustenance. And for the world—past and present—bread has always been a very important source of that sustenance.

I remember a prayer that was very common when I was a child:

“God is great; God is good.

Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands, we are fed.

Give us Lord our daily bread.

Amen”

As well, Jesus—in teaching His disciples how to pray—instructs that we ask the Lord to, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (See Matthew 6:9-13)

Yes, bread is important.

Today we find Moses and the children of Israel seeing the Lord literally providing them bread from heaven. The Israelites—having fled Egypt suddenly—soon ran out of the food they had brought with them. And, as we discussed yesterday, they began to complain about their hunger. In response to their need, the Lord sent quail in the evening and manna in the morning.

As we see in our opening scripture, the people had no idea what manna was; but they discovered that it was good. We find out more about how the people used the manna in this passage from the book of Numbers.

“Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.”

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭11:7-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Yes, the people ground the manna and made it into bread!

This whole episode (of the Lord providing manna from heaven) was used by the people doubting Jesus’ authority, as a challenge.

“Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ””

‭‭John‬ ‭6:30-31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

To which Jesus responded:

“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

‭‭John‬ ‭6:32-35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Yes, bread is important. But the Lord has shown us that the most important bread, the bread we can’t live without, is provided by His sacrifice.

Consider what the Lord said as He shared the Last Supper with His disciples:

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭26:26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Indeed, His sacrifice, the breaking of His body for our sins, takes us from death into life; and that life, is everlasting!

For today let us discover what Moses discovered:

We can’t live without the Bread from Heaven.

#40dayswithmoses