Lent, Day 16: DAY-BY-DAY GRACE

Exodus 16:1-35

In their desert wanderings, God provided both water and food to His people.  Each morning there would be dew on the ground and as the dew evaporated, “there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground” and “the house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey” (vs. 14, 31).  God’s provision was there but they had one instruction to obey. They were to take only what was needed for that day, and to clean up the rest and let the sun melt it away.  It was a day-by-day grace.  No hoarding, no cheating.  God would provide day-by-day. However, some of the people just had to push the envelope. They would take more than that days rations, only to discover that the left-over manna would perish and rot.  It was not to be saved.  Storage wouldn’t give them nourishment; only God. 

Dependency on God is a matter of the heart, isn’t it?  Trust, faith, obedience, focus, none of these come easily to most of us.  Yet, Thomas à Kempis was right, I think.  He said “Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from grace.” 

I grew up singing a wonderful song by John Henry Sammis, (1887), that has been helpful to me in my journey.  He wrote,

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,What a glory He sheds on our way!While we do His good will, He abides with us still,And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other wayTo be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The Manna issue with ancient Israel wasn’t their problem; it only revealed their problem.  They could not come to the place of trusting and obeying their God.  They just couldn’t, and it cost them dearly.  God wanted grace, they wanted their own way.  God wanted provision, they wanted to stockpile their gatherings.  God wanted to embrace His people into a wonder future, they wanted a backup plan, because they simply could not trust their God.

“Trust and obey,” can we do that?  Can we “Trust in the LORD…and…not lean on our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5)?  This is not to say that God wants us to table our brains and be fools.  It is to say that if God is not at the center of all we are and do, we are headed for trouble down the road.  Each day, can we yield our lives to God and trust His amazing grace in us?  

Jesus trusted the Father step-by-step in His life.  May our Heavenly Father, help us do this, too?