In Exodus 16 the people of God grumbled against Him. They were tired. They were hungry. They were confused. The were in the Wilderness of Sin. They didn’t understand what God was doing in their lives. And so they complained.

God listened. He always does.

God gave. He always does.

God asked for obedience. He always does.

And in the obedience is the blessing.

“Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day” Exodus 16:4

We know that God always hears when our hearts are heavy and we cry to him in faith, but he hears when we cry to him out of selfishness and sin and a complaining heart too.  And he often responds with a command.

Go out: Get out of yourself. Look up, look out, get out of the Incurvatus En Si mode.

Gather a day’s portion: Just do it for today. Tomorrow’s problems will be enough of their own.

Every day: You won’t be sustained by yesterday’s portion. You must gather every day.
“This is what the Lord has commanded: Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat.” Exodus 16:16

Gather of it. It is a command. It is active.

Each one of you. God provides and nourishes all of us individually through different means whether it is in corporate worship, online sermons, a podcast, YouTube, a blog (even this one), but nothing substitutes for interacting individually with God’s Word. Gather for yourself.

As much as you can eat. It doesn’t have to be chapters on end, it doesn’t mean hours of study. It is just as much as you can do. But make it the Word and not what someone else says about the Word.