I will rain down bread from heaven...Promises for the Wilderness #18

Israel's third test came exactly one month after they left slavery in Egypt (the account is found in Exodus 16) - but there is still evidence of the "slave" mentality; that conditioning of blindly accepting what only the eyes can see (and then perception altered so that what is really lack and leanness is redefined as abundance). They still haven't developed the "son" mentality that knows it can go to their Father with requests and needs and desires. 

It is always His inclination to "rain down on us" all that we need...

He allows the nation to become hungry - to allow them to see His provision.  When they KNOW they are hungry, do they look towards their Father in eager expectation; or do they look to their own lack and experience fear and frustration?   

What is it that I do, when I am hungry...hungry for ~

love, 

attention, 

 acceptance, 

recognition, 

peace, 

or ___________?  

And when the people I look to, expecting them to meet my need, do I grumble against their "failure" instead of recognizing it wasn't their place to give it to me at all?

We can see in Exodus 16 some traits of slave mentality:

• grumbling
• longing for the old life when things get hard in the new 
• speaking out against earthly authority
• expectation that our most basic needs will not be met even in the face of incredible evidence that contradicts such thinking
• an inability to see beyond the temporal and embrace the spiritual

The children of Israel complain against Moses and Aaron without even once speaking to their Deliverer in prayer...yet God knows this heart condition.  He has delivered them at the Red Sea, He has cleansed them at Mara, and allowed them to rest in Elim.  Now it is time for the work to be "proved" and the wilderness journey reveals they still haven't learned to lean on Him in trust.  And they grumble.  But it is God's desire to rain down blessings on them...and He gives them the tangible bread of heaven because He wants to lead them to the intangible Bread of Heaven...

...and He teaches them that He will always given them more than enough for each day, 

and He will always give it every day...

...not just the nourishment for our bodies, but the deep nourishment our souls are hungry for...

He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven;

He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven.

Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

Psalm 78:23-25 

 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, 
but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  
For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
 

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

John 6:32-34 

our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 

They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; 

for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, 

and that rock was Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. 

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, 

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35


"Rain down on me, my Jesus!
Let my hunger always be for You."