Modern-Day Manna

by Heather Myer

Have you ever experienced a time of being low on cash? A time when you sought food for its price and not for its quality? College students are skilled at this task. Top Ramen Noodles are a universal answer to hunger. Available in pork, shrimp, vegetable, chicken, and beef, these dried curly noodles cost only a quarter. Elizabeth frequently resorted to Toastio’s, an off-brand version of Cheerios. I ate hard boiled eggs and instant oatmeal for all three meals. Perhaps the most creative were Erica, Theresa, Katie, and Dallas. Erica waited until after 7 PM when the Fast and Friendly Gas Station sold hot dogs and hamburgers for half-price. Mixing minute rice and salsa together satiated Katie. English muffins topped with cheese and tomato sauce substituted Theresa’s longing for Papa John’s. Dallas mixed together tuna and macaroni and cheese to balance carbs with protein. College was a time when Stephen cherished pop tarts for their real fruit filling, and Cassie ate peanut butter in lieu of meat. It was a time of frozen pizzas, hot dogs, and microwave popcorn. Adults with kitchens cook pancakes, beans, potatoes, and meatless spaghetti when money is low. Now, pick a food item that you ate regularly out of necessity.

Do you have your food in mind? Good! Now, do you still enjoy eating it? Now that you have tasted the flavors of steak, penne pasta, and asparagus, could you go back? Back to a time of eating purely to stop hunger and not to satisfy your taste buds? If only for the simplicity of being content with what you had, would you want to go back? Knowing that the pricier items did not matter, because you could not afford them anyways? Life was simple in college. Dinner options were either between tomato soup or corn flakes. This was a time before choosing Zio’s over Macaroni Grill was even an option. Yet God always provided and brought us through.

Consider the Israelites, as they wandered in the desert for 40 years. God had promised to deliver them into a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet they dined on four decades of manna and the occasional quail. Manna was bread that God caused to fall like rain and cover the ground like frost. It was white, flaky, and tasted like wafers made with honey and olive oil. The Israelites had to rely on God to feed them. The manna would turn to maggots if they hoarded it overnight. They could save some to eat only for the Sabbath, God’s day of rest. Think of your food staple again. College was 4 years of instant oatmeal. This grew old quickly. Now imagine 4 decades of ramen noodles. Try to conceive four decades of nothing other than macaroni cheese and tuna. Would you remain thankful? The Israelites could not. They groaned and even wailed with out ceasing, “If only we had died in Egypt! We have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” God had delivered the Israelites from persecution, slavery, and genocide. Yet they wailed and groaned because of their food. Because of constantly eating a honey-flavored wafer provided by God, the Israelites were willing to forgo Canaan and return to a land where their lives were forfeit and their doom certain. Yet God had plans for his people to prosper and thrive in a new land.

What has God delivered you from? How has he carried you through difficulties? During your own time of eating manna and the occasional quail, consider how he sustained you. Some of us are still in the middle of wandering in the desert. We can choose to be thankful for our minute rice and salsa or we can wail and groan because of another PB&J. God is in the process of delivering us from our own Egypt and bringing us to Canaan. Until we reach the land flowing with milk and honey, let us be thankful. Let us praise God for his provisions. May we find comfort the manna that he has given to us.

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