Manna

* Two reasons God gave them manna:
1. So they could do His bidding.
2. So they could understand how the spiritual bread came.
* Manna came in quietness on the dew. The desert winds were stilled for 40 years. Quietness is required for prayer.
* Manna FELL – it had no earthly source. Any help from the workers comes from God (all manna came from God, not Moses)
* Why did some manna spoil in 24 hours; some in 48 hours; some lasted forever?  
Why did it melt in the sunshine, but not on the stove? Some of God’s way is unexplained.
* Humility required to gather manna – on the knees for everyone.
* It took both ambition and patience to gather manna. It was small stuff to pick up. Ambition and patience don’t often go together.
* No trophies involved with manna (biggest fish, or biggest elk). Manna only came in one size-small. Everyone got the same amount, no more, no less.
* Manna was white-clean. It was sweet. It was fresh. NOT NEW, just fresh. Newness wears off in a few weeks, but freshness was daily.
* Manna was free. Not tithes, no charge. God made it free to everyone He was leading.
* Manna was gathered voluntarily. Gathered by choice, not forced. It was a public admission of need. We need not be afraid or embarrassed to admit our need.
* Manna was eaten as a package. It was not like corn that was an edible part and a cob that is thrown away. The life of Jesus is taken whole and as it is – parts are not selected to copy.
* The same manna was for everyone. It was not chocolate-coated for the children, not vitamin-fortified for the old. It was the same for everyone.
* Manna never changed. It was never updated, never a revised version. There were no updates or changes needed.
* Manna was abundant. It was not affected by the season of the year, the terrain on which it fell, or the weather they were having. Someone did a calculation that 30 box-car (train) loads would have been needed daily to feed the people. Arithmetic could be checked, but it helps to understand the abundance.
* Manna was for one group of people only. Just for God’s people who were on the journey. It was not for well-wishers, not for spectators, just for those taking steps in God’s way.