The Story

The people of Israel had been out of Egypt about a month when they came into the wilderness of Sin, a dry, empty place between Elim and Sinai. Their food was running out. Hungry and grumbling, the whole congregation complained against Moses and Aaron. Oh, they said, if only we had died in Egypt, where we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread until we were full! They had forgotten how cruel Egypt had been — they could only think of their empty tummies.

But God had not forgotten His people, and He was not angry at their need. He told Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you". In the evening, He promised, quails would come for meat, and in the morning they would be filled with bread — our memory verse is God's own word about it.

That evening, quails came up and covered the camp — more birds than anyone could count — and the people had meat to eat. And in the morning, when the dew on the ground had dried away, there on the ground lay something new: "a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground". The people stared, and asked each other what it could be. Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat."

Every person was to gather a measure of it each morning. Some gathered more and some gathered less, but when it was measured, everyone had exactly enough. If anyone greedily kept some until the next morning, it bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much, for on the seventh day — God's Sabbath day of rest — none would be found in the field, and what they kept stayed sweet and good. This gift from heaven was called Manna, and "the taste of it was like wafers made with honey".

And here is the most wonderful part: God did not send the manna just once. He sent it every morning, for forty whole years, all the way through the wilderness until His people reached the borders of the promised land. Not one morning did He forget them. God fed His people every day — and He gives us what we need every day too.