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Text: Exodus 16: 3-5; Joshua 5:12
The story of Israelites’ journey from Egypt is not complete without the mention of their hunger experience, murmuring and regret in the desert. This made them so hostile and vengeful that God had to open the heaven and send food to them on earth. This food called ‘Manna’ did not have a name, so when the children of Israel saw it they called it ‘Manna’ meaning ‘what is this?’ Quickly, let’s take a look at what Manna means.
WHAT IS MANNA?
1 MANNA IS A SUPERNATURAL INTERIM PROVISION IN A DESPERATE CONDITION: Manna was not a permanent providential provision. It was God’s makeshift provision to a people who could did not trust Him enough to provide for them. It was a shadow of the real and the main thing. Manna was God’s interim package to an impatient people who refused to await the main provision.
2 MANNA IS SYMBOLIC OF GOD’S DIVINE ABILITY AND CAPABILITY TO SUSTAIN HIS PEOPLE IN A SITUATION OF HOPELESSNESS: Another name for Manna is miracle. This was something that could not be explained; That food could actually be rained down from heaven in a wilderness. Manna till this day is a proof of God’s ability to provide for His people beyond the realms of human comprehension. Or how can it be explained that people in their hundreds could survive in a desert for decades without a kitchen yet they ate, without a boutique, yet they were well dressed. Without a shoe-making factory, yet their shoes did not wear-out for years. In all, manna was a pointer to the unreproveable ability of God to meet the need of His people irrespective of the condition.
3 MANNA IS A DEMONSTRATION OF GOD’S POWER TO DO WHAT HE PROMISED TO DO: Where God leads direction is not a problem. God promised to deliver Israelites and He kept to His word. Know this: Israel’s deliverance treaty with God was not just for them to vacate Egypt and escape Pharaoh but it also included a detailed plan for them to arrive at the promised land. This showed God’s exceeding power to deliver on His word.
Here are a few things you need to know about Manna. Manna came as a result of their murmuring. God does not respond to complain and murmuring. God responds to faith. The bible says ‘if you believe, there shall be a performance’. What God gives you because of murmuring does not last. God gave Israelites Manna because they murmured and Manna did not last. When you compel God to give you marriage, you may end up marrying a physical bully. Haste is dangerous. It can land you in regret. Israelites didn’t know the capacity of the God that led them out of Egypt that was the reason they doubted His ability to sustain them. As Christians we need to understand that the God who has ability to give us life can give us what to live with. A clear understanding of this truth will help us stay off murmuring and disbelieve.
There is a difference between miracle and blessings. Blessings is what God gives believers but miracle is what God does so that when unbelievers see, it will draw them to Him. Blessing is a lifestyle but miracle is an experience. The miracles we yearn for is for unbelievers. We ought to grow beyond seeking for miracles. It’s important we follow God by our faith and not just our perception. God does things based on our faith. There are many Christians who run out of patience with God when what they expected did not come at the time they expected it. Every durable product takes time and process for it to be made. You cannot compare the lifespan of waterleaf and that of an oilpalm. The former takes just a little time to grow and it is harvested but the latter takes years to grow and it’s benefits lasts for long.
Manna was not a product of God’s perfect-will but of His permissive will. Everything in life has it’s time. As a marriage councilor I have met many young people who were not ready for marriage but they rushed into it just so they can ‘fit’ into the society or maybe because they wanted to catch up with life’s ‘competition’. But I tell you, many of them have been divorced while others are living in regret. It doesn’t matter how many people have what you want or have done what your trusting God for, just hold unto God for the right time else you aim for regret and frustration. Israelites travelled the wilderness without a change of raiment or sandals for 40 years and that was the exclusive miracle of God. If God did that then He had the ability to sustain them without manna but they murmured to have what latter brought them destruction.
Hear me, manna is that little apartment, that menial job, that thing that you have temporarily. God is telling you to relax and pray on it, He will change and give you something that will last. Manna is a temporary provision to salvage our urgent need. Where you are now is a manna position. The real you is bigger and better than what you see now. That rickety car is just a manna that will lead you to where you will have a better car. In Joshua 5:12 the bible says that Manna ceased and Israelites began eating real food that lasted them long. I see a new level coming to somebody now. I see God collapsing the temporary to bring you the permanent. I see the end of the life of management, struggle and scarcity.
When you don’t receive what you expected in your life, what you have in your hands is a manna. The main food did not showup until Manna ceased. When God wants to elevate a man, he will expire the old level and introduce you to the new level. God levels your devil to introduce you to your new level. In life, there is a devil in every new level.
THE FOUR EXPERIENCES OF MANNA
1 THE SPIRIT OF NEGATIVE REPUTATION.
Manna experience is the experience that lasts longer than necessary. The bible says, Israelites ate manna for 40 years. That must have been very awful, eating one kind of meal for that number of years. No matter how delicious rice is, you can’t eat it everyday for 2 months not to talk of 40years. An appetizer remains an appetizer, it can never take the place of the main meal. Manna life is a life of continuous repetition of evil occurrence in the family; When poverty lasts from generation to generation. When evil trends keep repeating leaving the family with negative reputation. There are families that record repeated premature death while in other families, people don’t get to succeed. There are families that are known to have poor people who live from hand to mouth. The spirit of manna elongates negative experiences. Manna makes people limited to a particular course of meal where they can only afford a small quantity of it. It would shock you that there are people who have not tasted milk for years now. While to others air-condition is but an expensive luxury. Manna makes a person appear at a Pharmacy and the attendants already know what drug she will purchase because she is a regular customer. Manna rubs people of good reputation. Manna is the reason for the sustenance of negative reputation. When the menial job lasts longer than necessary, manna is responsible.
[to be continued in next edition…]
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