Stephen spoke this evening about God’s wonderful provision. So often in life we run out of things (food, money, things to watch on TV, friends, to name but a few!), and our reaction to that situation is often to moan, just as the Israelites did during their wilderness wanderings. God’s wonderful provision was available to them in the form of manna, quail and water in the desert, but still they hankered after the cucumber, garlic, leeks and meats of Egypt, never being satisfied with the wonderful things God provided for them.
The fact is that God is able to provide for all our needs, often in miraculous ways, as the feeding of the five thousand demonstrated: the 5 loaves and 2 fish fed all those people with plenty of leftovers! God provides good things for us, but so often we fall into the pitfall of complaining or constantly nagging Him to do more.
When Jesus came to earth, many wonderful things happened, and God is still able to meet our every need. Jesus is the Bread of Life (see Jn 6:35-41) and it is only as we realise all satisfaction is in Jesus that we can learn gratitude and sufficiency, rather than constant complaining. God is both the Provider and the provision; He is the Manna which will never cease. If we feel discontented or that God’s provision for us isn’t enough, we need to realise that He is able to supply our every need. The Israelites did not initially know what manna was; they did not recognise it as God’s answer. We are often dissatisfied with life, but need to realise that God’s answer is freely given to us. We just need eyes to see and hearts that will be thankful rather than complaining and moaning.
