Exodus 16 carries a fascinating story about bread from Heaven. We know it as “manna”. Each day the people would go out and gather enough for that day. One day’s worth and no more, because manna would not keep. If the people tried to hoard it, overnight it would stink and crawl with worms and it melted in the heat of day . So their limit was two quarts of manna per person per day, with the exception of Sabbath.

Over the years there has been a good bit of speculation about what manna was exactly. The Bible says it was “like coriander seed, white and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey”. If you go to the Sinai peninsula  today, you will have a clearer understanding of what  manna is. The Bedouin who live there still gather manna . They bake it into bread which they  call “manna”.

The flakes themselves come from a kind of plant lice that feed on the local tamarisk trees. But because the sap is hopelessly poor in nitrogen, the bugs have to eat a whole lot of it just in order to live. And they excrete the excess in a yellowish-white flake, which is rich in carbohydrates and sugars. These flakes decay quickly and they attract ants. So a daily portion is the most  that anyone can gather. Now does that sound familiar?

The point is this: Manna doesn’t have to come out of nowhere before it can qualify as a miracle. The fact that God heard their prayers and provided for them in a timely manner, in a way they wouldn’t otherwise have discovered, is itself a miracle. If for you manna has to drop straight out of heaven looking like a loaf of bread then chances are you are going to go hungry a lot.

When we ask God for something we do not prescribe to Him the exact form His answer must take. People who complain that life is lousy are often people who have a lot going for them. What then is their problem? They want to be able to prescribe to God how He should bless them. They are asking for ready-made loaf.

Are you demanding that God must heal your illness before you can say that He’s answered your prayers for healing? Could it be that God is healing you in other areas in your life, as you look to Him for healing in your body? Or maybe you’re praying for a job or for a relationship. Whatever you’re praying for, do you have a preconceived idea of how God should answer your prayers?

If you do, chances are  you’re going to get a lot hungrier.

Because all that time that you are complaining, and mourning and groaning about what you don’t have, you are missing out on a lot of other things God is doing for you, because like manna, they are too ordinary, too fine, too flaky, and it is not easy to see them falling from heaven.

But if on the other hand you are willing to look at everything that comes to you as coming from God, then there will be no end of manna in your life. A can of baked-beans will be manna. Nothing will be too ordinary to remind you of God’s goodness. Everything will be bread that the Lord has given you to eat.