Humble Manna

Many of us have times of our lives when things seem to continually go wrong.  Health issues, financial issues, family issues, work issues - sometimes the problems pile on, and we wonder why God isn't pulling us out of our mess.  We may reason that if God really loved us, He would rescue us.  Sometimes we convince ourselves that we deserve better than we have.  Questioning God's goodness in the midst of despair easily consumes our emotional sensibility.  Situated in the depths of a dark tunnel, we cannot see the light.  In fact, the darkness may be so overwhelming that we question if the tunnel even leads to light.

Lying on the couch last week, blanketed with trouble, I asked God for answers.  I asked Him for reasons.  I asked Him for direction, and He gave me none.  So, I resigned to ask Him for help and began to listen to all He was teaching.  I may not be an Israelite, but God used their situation to teach me a bit about mine.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Deuteronomy 8:3

While the Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert, they lamented captivity where they had solid homes, adequate food, and a sense of stability.   Removed from Egyptian persecution, the comfort of daily food, shelter, and routine haunted their minds provoking them to long for what was bad while cursing the goodness of God.  Daily, the desert handed the Israelites uncertainty.  They grumbled often and complained that God was not as good to them as He should be.  Like an unteachable self-centered teen, the Israelites thought too highly of themselves and cursed authority.  So, God humbled them until they became desperately hungry - hungry enough to consume what God had prepared for them to eat.

In a world that promotes pride, self-advancement, and competitiveness, humility is an abstract concept for most.  Typical American humility is merely pride dressed in rags, much like a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Though the Lord is patient with us and always willing to teach, prideful people do not learn well.  God does not owe us answers.  He is not obligated to give us reasons, and we have no right to demand specific directions from Him.

When the world tumbles down all around us and our troubles pile on, our hunger for God should become insatiable.  Our minds and hearts should continually turn toward him.  Our pride should shatter letting the fertile soil of humility grow in us all that God is planting.

We may never know why we have to endure trouble, but we can know that in the midst of difficulty, God is never far away.  He is always eager to teach.  And when, in humility, we turn to Him, we will finally begin to understand what it means "to live on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."