No Leftovers

“Some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.” Exodus 16:17b, 18

Some leftovers are famously better than the first day they are made. I’ve heard people swear that pizza is better the next day, eating it cold from the refrigerator for breakfast the next morning. I’ve never tried it, I can’t get over the image of a big triangle of dough and tomato sauce sticking out of my cereal bowl. I’ll have chopped bananas with my Wheaties, please.


I can attest for both lasagna and spaghetti, though. Something happens when pasta and sauce unite and are left to befriend each other for a day or so. Perhaps the flavors intermix better or maybe the sauce and cheese combine more thoroughly. Now that Patti and I have no children in the house, I get to test my thesis more often now. How many years does it take for a couple to realize they can cut down the portions they prepare when the children are gone and the total occupancy of the home drops from somewhere around four or six two just two?

God didn’t want the Israelites to worry about leftovers, for six days of the week, anyway. After they escaped slavery in Egypt by God’s direct intervention, the people began to get hungry. They were a huge band of people ranging from 7,000 to over a million, depending on one’s translation of Scripture. (After reviewing the Scripture and details about the population of Egypt at the time, I personally opt for the lower number). Either way, it was going to take an awfully big chuck wagon to feed so many people.

Besides the logistics, supply would also be an issue. The tribes weren’t able to assign one chef each to call the local wholesaler for salted fish and wine. The desert didn’t provide much produce and, as a wandering band, the livestock wouldn’t last long enough for their 40 year trek.

God famously solves the problem by sending a sweet-tasting substance the people called “manna”. “Manna” sounds like the Hebrew for “what is it?” I think I could have called many high school cafeteria meals “manna” if we use that definition. “Hey, Dale, look at your tray…what is it?” “Heck if I know.”

God told each family to gather an omer of manna each day. An omer is about four liters or a little less than a gallon. Whether because each family didn’t have measuring cups, or more likely because measurements weren’t accurately standardized at the time, some gathered a lot, some less. But, no matter how much each family gathered, they all had enough food for that day, with nothing to spare. In fact, if they tried to save some for the next day’s lunch they were in for a big surprise. Amos calls to Mariah, “what’s for lunch, hon?” “Leftover manna, is that alright?” Amos opens the fridge, pops the top off the Tupperware bowl and is nearly knocked over by the odor. Gathering himself he peeks in the bowl and sees maggots infesting the entire contents. It seems God was serious when he meant for the people to gather it one day at a time.

God doesn’t serve leftovers! I suspect He has the same opinion as I do about Pepperoni pizza on the breakfast menu. Of course, there is more to it than that, isn’t there? Jesus taught us to pray, based on this story, “Give us today, our daily bread.” It isn’t that God’s kitchen isn’t stocked for tomorrow. The problem is that I worry about tomorrow’s meals so much I have trouble enjoying what He provides today.

God wants to meet with us here and now, providing, in the moment, what we need. We were never meant to carry the burden of a whole week, month or year of troubles at a time. We need to plan, of course, and consider the future, but we aren’t created to carry its emotional weight day to day.  By providing Israel with the manna one day at a time, He proved Himself faithful, and removed the need for excessive worry or complaint.

Of course, many of them went ahead and worried anyway. Not taking God at His word, many tried to gather enough for the next few days and found their “reserves” made putrid by the previously mentioned maggots! God’s supply is a day by day provision, not something we can store up and use for later on.

When we realize that we can trust God for the provision we need, we discover a new freedom for living. We can learn the delight of intimate trust in a God who cares for us deeply. And yes, we have to learn it over and over. The Israelites in the desert complained about the lack of food on the heels of God’s display of power when He parted the Sea for them to cross and drowned Pharaoh’s 600 chariots besides.

I want to learn the peace of praying, “Give us today, our daily bread” and then living as if God has answered. Jesus told us that the manna is all about Him. He is the “living” bread that came down from Heaven. As is usually the case, God uses our physical need as a picture of something far more important; our spiritual life. I can have the peace of knowing that Jesus is present each day, as certain as the manna was for Israel. All I need to do is look for Him, and He will be found.