Eating the Same Ole’ Thing

I like to watch old Westerns. It’s a way of life that has long since passed us by. Can you imagine sleeping on the ground and taking a trip with only beans and coffee packed in your saddlebag? You would build a fire to cook the beans and boil the coffee. You would ride your horse all day, and at the end of the day, you’d cook your beans and boil your coffee again.

The Book of Numbers tells us the Israelites ate the same meal for 40 years. Exodus 16:23-26 describes how each day, the Israelites would gather manna. They got creative and would bake or boil it, but it was still the same manna. In contrast, Numbers 11:1-9 tells us the Israelites ate well in Egypt. They were captives, but they ate well.

The Hebrew word for manna means “what is it?” Manna looked like white flakes of frost, and we’re told tasted “like wafers made with honey.” (Exodus 16:14) The image of manna as “bread from heaven” is found in John 6:31. Christ called Himself the “bread that came down from heaven.” (John 6:41) In verses 49-50 of John 6, Jesus says, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.”

Sometimes we get tired of the sameness of life, but Exodus 16 speaks about God’s faithful provision to the Israelites and how this caused them to trust and depend on God each day. In the Westerns and in real life of the time, I’m sure the cowboys got tired of beans and coffee, but they survived. God promises to give us everything we need. Psalm 107:9 tells us that God satisfies our longing and fills our spirits with “good things.”

Prayer – Thank you, God, for Your promise to care for me and provide what I need. When I get tired of “beans and coffee,” help me appreciate what I have. Amen!

Numbers 11:6 – “We have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images by Tobias Keller, Emily Campbell & Onder Ortel, courtesy of Unsplash