I hope manna will be on the menu in the New Earth–not because it sounds particularly delicious in the biblical account. On the contrary, it sounds pretty bland, and if you put any stock at all in the Israelite’s reviews of this bread from heaven, it was quite monotonous fare. I like to picture the Hebrew women gathering around open cooking fires, sharing recipes, swapping stories about this miracle food that arrived at dawn each day to stave off the nation’s hunger.
It’s amazing what we learn about ourselves in our hunger. What we crave and how we behave when we don’t get what we expected reveal entire mountain ranges of data about the state of our hearts. According to Moses, God used this bit of inside information to plan his customized wilderness curriculum:
And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart…”
Deuteronomy 8:2
Hunger Reveals the State of Your Heart
Sometimes God shows us our hearts by withholding what we want. The Israelites were hungry, so they complained against God, became resentful, and wallowed in their own special brand of self-pity.
Sometimes God shows us our hearts by giving us what we want. God fed his people with manna, a food they did not recognize or understand. (According to hebrewversity.com, “When the heavenly bread began to rain down, in the original Hebrew the people of Israel asked: “Ma’n Hu?” {?מן הוא} – English for “what is it?” and thatis the origin of the name ‘manna.'”) Ironically, even with full bellies, they still complained against God, became resentful, and wallowed in their own special brand of self-pity.
As my husband and I waited for the joy of parenting to be ours, before our first son was born, I became impatient and resentful. God was revealing the state of my heart by withholding what I wanted. Then… after baby number one was on the scene, I learned that I was not nearly as well prepared for mothering as I had imagined. God revealed the state of my heart once again–impatient and resentful–by giving me what I wanted!
Hunger Reveals the Goodness of God
My season of waiting and the wilderness wanderings of God’s people put the goodness of God on display. Pain is instructive, and when we find ourselves hungry for something unattainable or choking down God’s provision that looks nothing like what we asked for (“What Is It?”), our hearts echo the psalmist’s:
Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?”
Psalm 78:19
Will God nourish my soul in the midst of a howling wasteland?
Of course, he can.
If you are finding yourself in the wilderness today, hungering for something beyond your grasp, know that God, in his goodness and sovereignty, plans our desert days to woo and win some untouched parts of our hearts that would be unavailable to him outside the wilderness.
Allow your hunger to reveal the goodness of God and to show you what’s in your own heart as you wait for manna to arrive.
Holding you in the Light,
P.S. Keep reading for the link to my new guest post at Joyful Life Magazine featuring meal plans and recipes for hungry boys!
It’s amazing what we learn about ourselves in our hunger. What we crave and how we behave when we don’t get what we expected reveal entire mountain ranges of data about the state of our hearts.
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Help for a Different Kind of Hunger!
One parenting lesson inscribed on my brain while sitting in the driver’s seat of a blue mini-van is still vivid in my memory: End of day pick-ups were much more pleasant if I appeared in the school parking lot with a snack.
Some days, raising four boys felt like standing up to my neck in food preparation. I loved having their friends visit for both planned and impromptu gatherings, and some of my sweetest memories happened with just the six of us seated around the dining room table. Loving my family well with food that was both delicious and nutritious was a joy—and it was also a LOT of work.
I’ve shared a collection of cheap, easy recipes and menu ideas with my friends at Joyful Life Magazine, and it’s offered to you, too, with love, with fond memories, and with a heart full of hope that they will help you in the good work of drawing your people together around a welcoming table. CLICK HERE for my collection of six cheap and easy meal plans, complete with recipes to help you satisfy your family’s hunger!
May your family gather with joy around God’s gift of food, and may those hungry boy bellies always be filled with goodness!
I’m sharing 6 cheap and easy meal plans complete with recipes at @joyfullifemag! #boymum
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P.S. Other recipes I’ve shared here on the blog include easy over-night cinnamon rolls and our family’s favorite Friday night pizza. Enjoy!
And One Last Thing…
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I’ve developed a free guided meditation to encourage you in a deep dive into the truth of Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I’ve found that the surest antidote for the poison of the lies we tell ourselves is LARGE doses of truth, and I’m committed to the process of helping women to become confident Christ-followers and students of God’s Word. Click on the button below for your free gift…
Published by Michele Morin
Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four sons, four daughters-in-love, and six adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.”She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.View all posts by Michele Morin
