How Much Trust?

Worms? Really God?

I've been thinking a lot about the 40 years of wandering in the desert for a while. The Israelites grumbled a lot. I mean, a lot. God was very gracious with them though, and continually held His patience and even blessed them during these years. One such situation was when they grumbled about food. So God rained down food; cool huh? This is one of my favorite miracles in the entire Bible, simply because it shows that God provided something so vital, so daily as the need for food. However, there's a part of the story that I don't normally think about. Take a look:

"And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted."  (Exodus 16:19-21 ESV)
The thing that really struck me is that God required them to only take what they needed for the day. They weren't even allowed to store the food to keep for the next morning. They had to trust that God would provide the manna again the next morning.


They had to trust.


A lot of times, it's easy to want to take things into my own hands. When it's things that I need, my daily bread so to say, I fear that if I don't take advantage of the situation, I'm not going to have what I need. I have this problem with money, jobs, relationships, etc. 

Am I speaking to an empty crowd here? Or do you get what I mean?

In the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray, it says "give us this day our daily bread". That has always been a hard part of the prayer to be earnest about. Honestly, I'd rather say, "give me everything I'll ever need." Wouldn't that be great? But that's that faith. There's no trust.  God wants us to trust Him. Throughout Scripture God proves His faithfulness. He constantly reminds us of it as well, and pleads with us to just stop and trust:

"Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."-- 1 Peter 5:7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." --Philippians 4:6 

And friends, this trust--this faith-- is not blind. We have evidence that God has provided in the past. You can see that God is providing for you in the present. (Look at the clothes you're wearing, think of the food you've eaten today, how are you reading this post?) We can be assured that God will provide in the future. Whatever we need, God will provide. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)