When the children of Israel were crossing the wilderness, there came a point where they were starving for food and began complaining to Moses about the issue. God responded by promising manna would fall every morning. Each day, the people were to go out and collect enough for that day except on the last day of the week. On the last day of the week the people were supposed to gather double so they could rest on the Sabbath because God said He would not provide the manna on the Sabbath.

Exodus 16:27 provides us their response to God’s command. “Some of the people went out anyway on the seventh day, but they found no food.”

In the presence of clear direction and in the presence of provided supply, they went out anyway and found nothing. In the middle of God providing supernaturally for them day after day, some still wanted to lean into being self-sufficient rather than lean into the provision of God. This lack of obedience and trust in God angered the Lord to the point that He asked Moses, “How long will these people refuse to obey my instructions?” There are three truths that those who went out anyway were missing from their lives. These three truths will help you stay obedient if you embrace them today.

•God wants you to enjoy His provision for today. Until you learn to rest in His provision, you will never experience His care in the way He desires you to receive it. Those who went out anyway did not experience the rest God wanted them to experience because they were too busy taking matters into their own hands. 


•God wants you to trust Him for tomorrow. They went out searching, not because they did not have enough for that day, but because they were worried that the manna wouldn’t fall tomorrow. If you get too fixated on tomorrow you will sabotage the provision that God has for you today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”


•God wants you to realize that your effort without His blessing always produces nothing. These guys had to look sort of ridiculous to the rest of the camp. They were out there wandering around staring at the ground for food that was not there. Trying to participate in God’s provision with our own ideas always causes us to look foolish. 


Today’s Challenge: You discover God’s care for your life as you trust Him enough to follow His instructions. You never experience His supply by trying to usurp your own ideas over His. Trust Him today and lean into His daily provision.