Whose Got Cabin Fever?
The Israelites were wandering in the desert and I've been trapped inside my house because of ice and snow since Friday night. Today is Monday and there's no melt in sight. I honestly don't know how they survived 40 years, we're on day three and I'm already feeling a little stir crazy.
Fifteen days in, the Children of Israel are complaining again. Same old tune "We should have stayed in Egypt." They were hungry. They were thirsty. And I get it, I get grumpy when I'm hungry too. But once again God provides.
🍖 Meat in the evening.
🍞 Bread in the morning.
But He gives them one specific instruction, only take what you need for today. Don't save it. Don't store it up. Don't try to prepare for tomorrow on your own.
And of course some of them don't listen. They take extra. And by morning, it's rotten.
Have you ever done that? Tried to overcompensate for God because your faith just wasn't quite there? Because let's be honest...it's our lack of faith not God’s lack of Power... I'm literally stuck in my house right now. No roads. No school. No work. No productive distractions.( Well I could be cleaning 🙃)Just me, the snow, and my thoughts on loop.
And I keep catching myself doing the same thing Israel did. Not with bread but with worry.
What if this drags on longer? What if we need more than we have? What if this is just one more thing on top of everything else we've already been dealing with?
So I try to get ahead of God in my head.I start planning ten steps ahead. Replaying conversations that haven't happened. Stockpiling anxiety like it's going to make me feel more secure. Come on now...Im not the only one...Snow days are great til it's time to pay the bills and you've been trapped in the house for a week with no pay...Right....
And God's over here like "Hey. You're only required to trust Me for today."
Not next week.
Not next month.
Not the whole outcome.
Just today.
And I hate that because I want a full plan.
I want reassurance. I want to know how it's all going to work out before I relax. But Exodus 16 isn't really about bread.It's about control.
God was teaching them and honestly teaching all of us daily dependence on him.
Not emergency faith.
Not crisis only prayers.
But every single morning trust.
I want a warehouse, God offers a daily delivery.I want guarantees, God offers relationship.And when I try to carry tomorrow too? It just rots in my hands. It turns into stress. That low level panic I pretend isn't there but definitely is.
So maybe this snowed in, stuck, quiet moment is God gently trying to show us the same thing today....Stop trying to survive the next 40 years. Just trust Me for day three.
Enough peace for today. Enough strength for this moment. Enough provision for what's right in front of me, not what I'm afraid might come.
And tomorrow morning....
I'll wake up and ask for my manna again.
Love Pastor Mandy
Ark of Hope Ministry
Daily Reading Exodus 16
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