I did the math this morning: An Israelite wandering in the desert would have eaten 1,095 meals of manna a year. That\u2019s 5,475 manna-meals in five years; 27,375 in 25 years. You don\u2019t want to know the numbers for 40.<\/p>\n
In all that plenty, God provided just enough food for the day and no more, exactly when it was needed and no earlier. It would drive me nuts. I personally need\u2013oh, all right, I <\/span>strongly<\/em> prefer<\/em>\u2013advance planning, a few reserve supplies, and variety. <\/span><\/p>\n Yes, I would have whined.<\/p>\n Thinking about this made me realize is that my idea of what I need is far more extensive than what\u2019s actually necessary. Often when I pray for my daily bread what I have in mind is something like a warm, crunchy baguette. <\/span><\/p>\n I want my daily bread and something tasty and fattening to dip it in. Or I\u2019m thinking about flour and yeast so I can make my own dough and have others admire my industriousness. <\/span><\/p>\n It takes a major mental realignment to pray for what I need, just enough and no more, exactly when I need it and no earlier. I have to wrestle to accept that God\u2019s idea of \u201cjust enough\u201d may not be the same as mine. <\/span><\/p>\n Deep down, I don\u2019t want to learn to be content with less than I yearn for. Which is why, I suppose, that abundance must wait until after I have grasped that what I need more than anything else is to rely on God.<\/span><\/p>\n Given the state of my heart, I\u2019m guessing that 40 years in the wilderness <\/span>might<\/em> be enough. If I had no choice but to rely on God for 43,800 meals in a row\u2013no matter how hard I complained\u2013it\u2019s possible I would get the message that <\/span>He will provide what I need. <\/span><\/p>\n I note that in His goodness, despite my ingratitude he\u2019s given me more than 40 years\u2019 worth of nutrition already. In His goodness, he\u2019ll also give me the time I need to grasp the the truly important things of life, before He brings me to the land of milk and honey.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I did the math this morning: An Israelite wandering in the desert would have eaten 1,095 meals of manna a year. That\u2019s 5,475 manna-meals in five years; 27,375 in 25 years. You don\u2019t want to know the numbers for 40. In all that plenty, God provided just enough food for the day and no more, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":27639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[16],"ppma_author":[495],"class_list":["post-17917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-positive-living","tag-god"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n