There are many people who see little or no value in reading the Old Testament scriptures. I am persuaded the Old Testament is a wonderful way to learn about how God worked with people of various times and cultures. When I first started reading the Bible years ago, all I saw in the Old Testament was a vengeful, judgmental God. But as I read more, I began to see a consistent message through the whole of the Bible of our Creator being committed to the redemption of every willing human being. Rather than simply judging humanity, He is always seeking to save us from the calamity we tend to bring upon ourselves. What we call the Fall in the Garden of Eden was the first recorded self-imposed negative consequence of human choice. God’s response to human failure was to provide a way for human beings to be reunited in relationship with Himself. So, while there are consequences for our wrongdoing, God seeks restoration to Himself for all human beings.
Much of the Old Testament is a history of the people God chose to be a light of His love to the world. God’s dealings with them illustrate for us not only the holiness and power of God, but the tenderness and dependability of God toward is people. A careful reading from the perspective of God’s people reveals that God is for people whose hearts are set on Him. If we avoid the Old Testament, we miss rich illustrations of New Testament truths.
One such example is Jesus’ phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 CSB). This daily bread Jesus referred to has an Old Testament connection. Every Jewish person who heard Jesus say this would have immediately thought of the forty years that God provided Manna to the Jewish nation.
As Israel left Egypt, they travelled through desert regions. Food was scarce and the people complained about not having anything to eat (Exodus 16:13). This occurred about one month after they left Egypt and shortly after having miraculously crossed the Red Sea. They remembered the fresh food and pots of meat they enjoyed in Egypt and began to want to go back to Egypt, back to a life of slavery. Even slavery would be better than starving in the desert. Life in the desert was hard and finding food was challenging. They remembered how abundant food was in Egypt and forgot the misery that came with it. Their hunger caused them to lose sight of who had led them to this place and what His purpose was for their life as a nation.
God’s response to their grumbling was to make a daily provision for the nation. God gave them quail in the evening and a bread-like substance called manna each morning (Exodus 16:13-16 NIV).
Six mornings each week Israel collected manna from the desert floor. This was bread from heaven, which God provided for His people as they wandered in the wilderness. In providing manna, God illustrated a theme we see repeated in scripture around the idea of God’s daily provision. Later, He provided victories in battle, wisdom for rulers, and protection for the nation. He provided forgiveness of sin and redemption for all who would believe in Him. Israel’s complaining and wanting to go back to Egypt moved God to do something every generation after would remember.
Per God’s direction, every morning, the Israelites were to gather enough Manna for that day. Because God had commanded them not to work on the seventh day of the week, they were to gather enough manna for two days on the sixth day.
Ordinarily, when someone gathered more than enough for one day on any day but the sixth day, it became filled with maggots and began to smell (Exodus. 16:20). However, they gathered enough manna for two days on the sixth day and the Manna was good for two days. Exodus 16:35 says, “The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.” Each week they witnessed the miracle of the manna remaining fresh on the seventh day.
For forty years, God’s daily provision of manna was there six days a week. Like clockwork, every Sabbath the manna would not spoil when stored for an extra day. It would not spoil on the seventh day, even though extra manna any other day would spoil overnight. While God was working to move Israel into the promised land, He did not give up on the nation. He preserved the nation for forty years as those who were unfaithful died off. Imagine being that second generation. That second generation, many of whom were children when God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, saw the failure of the generation before them. They also saw God’s daily provision in the desert for forty years.
God still gives us daily bread. The nation of Israel was alone, without an ally, and needed to feed upwards of two million people as they wandered in the wilderness. One of their primary needs was physical sustenance. Most of us in today’s America do not have such a desperate need for food, though hunger is not foreign to our nation. While we do experience physical needs, God’s daily provision for us also includes peace, strength, wisdom, guidance, protection, and more. These are intangible things that cannot be measured except by our own experience.
God gives us peace when we face trying circumstances. He gives us reassurance when we feel like a failure. He sustains our bodies in sickness, gives us wisdom when we are bewildered, and lights the way before us when making tough decisions.
We can look at our lives during tough times and feel that God has left us alone; that He is on vacation somewhere as our lives are stressed and our character is developed by the trials of life. We want to see demanding situations resolved, but we often fail to realize God is working on our character and spiritual perspective. Sometimes we must endure need to find God’s grace and love for us individually.
There have been times in my life where I needed God’s grace and peace just to make it through the morning and I needed another fresh infusion of His presence to make it to evening. This provision of what we need in each moment is God’s manna for our lives. Interestingly, it is those times when I most needed God’s daily grace that I have grown the most spiritually. I suspect that many reading tis can say the same thing as this is God’s way with us.
What do you need today? God desires relationship with you. He desires to give you what you need each moment. To get there, stay in God’s Word. Be honest with God and revere Him. Worship Him; even in tough times. Stay grateful for all the good things you already have. In the tough times is when we most need to focus on God’s exaltedness. He is greater than any problem we face in this life. When we get our eyes off our own suffering and challenging time, we can make room in our spirit for God to give us what we need.
Israel needed their physical needs met, so God gave them food daily. Just as surely as God provided for Israel through their forty years of wilderness wanderings, He is willing and able to meet our needs in this modern age.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructed us to ask for our daily bread. The disciples would have thought about the manna in the desert. Whether our needs are physical, emotional, or spiritual, God will provide what we need each day as we seek Him and make room in our hearts and lives for Him to work. He is full of mercy, grace, and love for those who humbly seek Him with open hearts.
God has given us many things in the Old Testament as illustrations of what He provides for us as New Testament believers. We tend to think of Old Testament as only history, or religious rules, but God is telling us through the power of illustration, that He is available to meet our daily needs. He will give us our daily bread.