I had an experience yesterday… not unlike the ones I had with her. I’ve spent the better part of my morning thinking about my experience, writing a few words to memorialize our encounter. I’m not sharing the fullness of that writing in a post, but I thought I’d give you a few thoughts to chew on over the weekend. You may want to re-visit the backdrop for my thoughts as found in Exodus 16. In this piece, I work with the idea of our not “taking more than we need”–about living within the daily boundaries of God’s daily provision. I realize this reading it is not in its full context, but I wanted to:
1. Say “hello.”
2. Tell you that God has been mighty good to me over the past few weeks in regards to my preparations for She Speaks. His daily manna has been just enough for a day’s worth of doing. I pray you know the witness of his manna in your life this weekend.
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Never take more than you need.
I have a feeling this has been a guiding principle for her throughout her life. Receiving help as she needed it, but declining it when she had enough. Oh for a heart like hers to know when to take and when to give back. When to say “yes” and when to say “I have enough for today. You keep it for your family.”
Our spiritual ancestors had a difficult time discerning that balance. Manna from God was a daily dispensation, their gathering of it as well. A daily obedience not to be taken advantage of, but rather to be celebrated. To say back to God, “Yes and this is enough for today.” When they didn’t—when stocking the pantry took priority over receiving the daily provision of God—the resulting consequences didn’t allow them to imbibe their hoarding.
“However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but is was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.” (Exodus 16:20)
Could it be the same for us in our hoarding of blessings? Could we, in the receiving of blessing upon blessing a few thousand times over, get to the place of keeping them for ourselves? Worse yet, of coming to expect them as our right rather than to humbly receive them as a grace from God? When is God’s “enough” enough for us? Why does abundance sometimes breed greediness? Why can’t God’s daily provision settle down within our hearts as faith rather than as distrust?
I think this is it. I think we are afraid that God’s goodness has a limit. We falsely reason that even though today it’s raining manna, tomorrow it might be raining famine. So we collect and hoard and relish our abundance; in doing so we break ranks with God’s mandate to live daily beneath his provision. We cultivate a deserving attitude because, after all, we are God’s children on the road to the Promised Land. Before long, the stench of maggots have replaced the once, sweet smell of God’s “enough,” and the odor emanates upward to the nostrils of heaven. And we wonder where it all went wrong. When did the manna turn to maggots, and why do we feel so empty on the inside?
Manna begins in its disintegration when we take it upon ourselves to manage the blessings of God. Certainly, we need them, especially the witness of God’s love to us through others in our times of great trial. When the need is great, the manna rains down proportionally—maybe with a generous dispensation to last us beyond the borders of a single day. But when our need is less, we must relinquish our expectations for more and live within the boundaries of day’s worth of manna. When the need is but a day’s worth, the manna will fall accordingly. Out of his abundance, the Father gives to us what we need. We must receive it with thankfulness and then we must release our expectations.
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For what it’s worth, there you go. Love to you each one!
Peace for the journey,
