Today at church we had a sermon about God’s gifts to us. The focus was on the gift of manna that God gave to the Israelites as they were wondering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 19). What our pastor focused on was the commandment from God that the Israelites could not store the manna overnight and were to rely on God for new sustainance each day. God promised to provide as long as the Israelites had faith that he would. The unfaithful ones who hoarded manna woke up in the morning to moldy manna infested with maggots.
I think this passage has interesting parallels to the financial crisis we find ourselves in today around the world. Not that I think investment in the future is a bad thing, in fact, I find individual private investment to be a wonderful part of modern capitalism and our ability to secure our own financial futures. But I begin to wonder if worrying so much about investment in the future has led us to forget about the comfort of the blessings of today.
I bought my wife an embroidered piece of art a while back that has a message I try to remember every day: “The will of God will not lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” It doesn’t say God won’t lead you to places you can’t get yourself out of. What this saying is reflecting upon is God’s providence in our lives. Because of the abundance in our modern societies, most of us have the wonderful blessing of not needing to worry about our basic needs from day to day. But this has led us to the complacency of thinking that our abundance is of our own accord. It is undoubtedly the will of God for us to be materially fulfilled, but only if we respond by giving thanks, sharing with those less fortunate, and living each day to tighten our bond to Him.
If we ask God to provide for us, He ALWAYS will out of his boundless mercy and love. It is our compensitory duty to give thanks and share this love with others. When we get greedy, the manna spoils. The Bible is full of the consequences when we treat his blessings as our own doing, and several passages about storing up financial treasures can be found throughout the Bible.
So especially in this time of economic stress, we should not forget to give thanks for God’s gifts in our lives and ask for his continual blessing as we work to further His kingdom.
