The Journey Reading PlanSample

Knowing Yourself: Character

The situation looked hopeless. The 2.5 million Israelites desperately needed food and water. When God didn’t provide for the Israelites in the way they expected, they became angry and accused God of taking them into the wilderness to starve them to death.

But they failed to recognize that God saw their predicament and had plans to take care of them. He supplied them with “manna.” “What is it?” was the people’s first reaction when they saw it on the ground (verse 15) God’s “food” was unusual, but that shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. After all, these were the same people who had miraculously walked through the Red Sea.

Why did God meet their need in this way? God wanted the people to depend on him, to have complete faith in him.

This passage shows that God will do whatever is necessary to provide for his followers so they can accomplish his purposes. While he may not meet their needs in predictable ways or supply every single need, he will make sure they have enough. God has reasons for his methods—a higher purpose and plan that we can’t see. Like Moses, we need to trust God and wait for his provision in our lives.