Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Exodus 16

Just as hunger would one day tempt Jesus in the wilderness, the fear of going hungry greatly tempted the Israelites to disobey God in Exodus 16.

God had clearly promised them a sufficient supply of manna every day of the week and a double-supply every Friday, so that they could obey His commands to neither keep cooked manna until the next day (on ordinary days) nor to try to collect manna on their day of rest and remembrance, the Sabbath (v.1-5, 19 and 21-23).

Despite God’s promises, there were those who insisted on keeping some cooked manna until morning (v.20) only to find that it had rotted overnight; and others went out to search for manna on the Sabbath (v.27) – neither trusting God’s promises nor obeying His commands. It seems they feared hunger more than they feared God. To rephrase that in more contemporary terms, their desire to satisfy their hunger outweighed their desire to be pleasing to God.

In some way it may have been more of a trust issue. Could they really trust that God would send manna again tomorrow? I mean, there it was on the ground, what was the harm in taking extra just to be sure? A grain of manna in the hand is surely worth two in the bush! One can readily imagine how those tempting thoughts may have come.

In the wilderness Jesus proved that His desire to please the Heavenly Father far outweighed His desire to satisfy His physical hunger. He hungered for the Father’s pleasure far more than he hungered for bread, and therefore His decisions were not determined by His physical needs, but by the Father’s will. He implicitly trusted that the Father’s will was good, pleasing and perfect, even if it seemed painful in the moment.

Later He would tell the disciples that His food was to do the will of the Father (John 4:34), but in the wilderness He put it this way: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” This should be our approach as disciples too. My own desires (not matter how real and powerful they may be) ought never to outweigh the desire to please God.

Lord, my Saviour and Deliverer, deliver me from the power of my desires, I pray. Change my heart and increase my desire to please You in every way I can, so that this holy desire outweighs all other desires. And by Your grace, grant me the gift of faith so that I may trust that Your way is good, pleasing and perfect. Amen.