What Is It?
“And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.” Exodus 16.14, 15
“And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.” Exodus 16.14, 15
I’m sure that each of us has asked the question, “What is it?” when sitting down before an unfamiliar dish. I remember Vance Havner once said, “I never eat hash away from home because I don’t know what’s in it; and, I never eat hash at home because I do know what’s in it.”
The Israelites had reached a point in their wilderness travels in which their hunger pangs were overtaking their sense of reality. Many times we find them wondering what was next on God’s agenda for them. Here, God offers them a tasty resource – obviously something they had never tasted in Egypt and nothing they had ever experienced outside of Egypt. They had no clue what it was or, really, what to call it.
The word “Manna” (mawn) literally means, “whatness” (Strong) or “What is it?”
We can almost see in our minds a gathering of men hovering over this stuff out in the wilderness – each one offering an opinion which was never verified. The substance of the stuff escaped them along with its origin and/or the reason God chose this avenue to satisfy their need.
Quite often we find ourselves in a desert – hungering for spiritual satisfaction and fulfillment when God steps in and offers us a path which seems, at best, a waste of time or filled with futile steps. We look at it and say, “What is it?” “What does it mean?” “How am I supposed to use this to help my situation?”
Even though we do not always understand (and sometimes even have difficulty connecting God’s ways to our ways) what God is doing, we can trust the hand of the One directing us. For, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55.8, 9)
Please understand that God’s ways are so far beyond our understanding that often we can only stand back and say, “What is it?” when God is leading us along. “Lord, what are you trying to accomplish in me?” Through it all, we know that God is still in control and that He has a wonderful plan for our lives.
We say, “Lord, what is it?” God reminds us that, “…he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23.10)
The Israelites had reached a point in their wilderness travels in which their hunger pangs were overtaking their sense of reality. Many times we find them wondering what was next on God’s agenda for them. Here, God offers them a tasty resource – obviously something they had never tasted in Egypt and nothing they had ever experienced outside of Egypt. They had no clue what it was or, really, what to call it.
The word “Manna” (mawn) literally means, “whatness” (Strong) or “What is it?”
We can almost see in our minds a gathering of men hovering over this stuff out in the wilderness – each one offering an opinion which was never verified. The substance of the stuff escaped them along with its origin and/or the reason God chose this avenue to satisfy their need.
Quite often we find ourselves in a desert – hungering for spiritual satisfaction and fulfillment when God steps in and offers us a path which seems, at best, a waste of time or filled with futile steps. We look at it and say, “What is it?” “What does it mean?” “How am I supposed to use this to help my situation?”
Even though we do not always understand (and sometimes even have difficulty connecting God’s ways to our ways) what God is doing, we can trust the hand of the One directing us. For, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55.8, 9)
Please understand that God’s ways are so far beyond our understanding that often we can only stand back and say, “What is it?” when God is leading us along. “Lord, what are you trying to accomplish in me?” Through it all, we know that God is still in control and that He has a wonderful plan for our lives.
We say, “Lord, what is it?” God reminds us that, “…he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23.10)
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