“‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” —Exodus 16:12
Much of Israel’s history with God involves their struggle with trusting Him. They experience many needs, especially early in their relationship with God, and they don’t know how to trust Him to provide for them. They see only their hardships, and they have no idea how to resolve the issue.
But every time, God’s answer is the same: “Trust Me. I will provide.” The people of Israel see this in the great plagues God sends upon the land of their slavery that finally convinces their masters to release them. They see this in the parting of the Red Sea that allows them to escape their enemies once and for all. They see this in the purification of bad water.
Every time they’re confronted with a new need, though, they panic. “Where is God?” they cry. “Why has He let this horrible thing happen to us?”
Yet even while they’re complaining and insisting that God doesn’t care about them, God is working on a way to provide for them. When they are in a place with no food, God causes flocks of quail to surround their camp, and in the morning bread covers the ground. This bread sustains them for decades, a constant reminder of God’s care for them.
It’s easy to give the Israelites a hard time about their continual unbelief. But how many times do we do the exact same thing? We find ourselves in a tight spot with no visible way out, and we’re frightened. The only thing we really can do is beg for God’s help. And then we wait. Sometimes we wait for a long while. And always in the back of our minds is that niggling doubt: “What if?” What if this time God doesn’t provide? What if He’s really forgotten us? What if He doesn’t care anymore?
This is exactly what the people of Israel thought. And every time, God proved that He still did care. He is more than capable of providing exactly what we need. It won’t come in the way we expect. It might not be what we were hoping for. But it will always be what we need. He provides, and when He does, we realize anew that He is the Most High God.
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