Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 16:4-5 (New Living Translation)

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

Before the LORD gave the people manna, He gave them these instructions. He would put everything in front of them, but He wanted them to take only as much as they needed.

The result was predictable and predicted. Some grabbed much more than they needed.

Us today? Well, here we go again. We don’t do much better. How much is enough? What do we need? As I have said for years, and not done what I said for most of those years, “If I have two pair of pants, I have twice as many as I need.”

God provides everything to us. He would like us to take what we need and share the rest. God, please help me to please you in this and many other ways. Thank you for forgiving my many failings.