And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.  And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.  And when they did mete (measure) it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

God’s Will Reveals His Providence

The Hebrews are told how to handle God’s blessing of bread from heaven, the manna. Which means, “what is it?”

They were to gather it every morning early with the dew. They were to gather an omer (which in case you’re not up on your ancient OT dry measurements and omer is1/10 of an ephah, is that clear? Well what if we say about 2 liters, or 2 quarts). They were to gather about 2 quarts of manna for each person and take it home. They were told not to gather more than they needed nor try to store it for later use.

And yet, and yet, many ignored God’s word and tried to hoard as much as they could. I bet they regretted that the next day when their tents spelled like a rancid chicken carcass and maggots were crawling all over the place.

This was probably they way they acted while slaves back in Egypt. Grab all you can when you can and hoard it. You know exactly what that is like because we went through the great toilet paper hoarding of 2020.

But God wants them to realize they are no longer slaves and they need to quit acting like they still are. When they ignored the warning, when they disregarded God’s revealed will, then the manna they had hoarded bred worms and it stank. (Some words sound just like what they are. Stank needs no description.)

So, after that first morning they gathered only as much as they needed except on Friday when they gathered enough for the Sabbath day, a miracle within a miracle. And the Bible tells us that when the sun rose high in the sky, the manna, just like the dew evaporated. Incredible.

Blessings In God’s Will

There are some wonderful principles about God’s will in this passage which we can apply to all of God’s provision and blessing in our life.

First, Go to God, early to gather His blessings.

Second, take as much as you need for the day and trust Him for the rest.

Third, God’s blessings, like manna, are poured out daily, you can’t hoard them.

Fourth, Ignoring God’s will results in busted blessings.

The purpose of the manna was not just to feed the people but also show them God’s will, it was to teach them to trust and obey him and it was to test his people so that through that test, they could be blessed by their obedience.

Those purposes have not changed, God still tells His Will through His word and then pours His blessing upon us so that we may learn to trust Him. And yes part of that process is that we will be tested in the way in which we will handle those blessings, the way in which we follow God’s will.

With each blessing, be it in faith, family or finances, God has given principles that will sustain and multiply the blessings. Just like manna from heaven. If we ignore His revealed will, if we think we can receive the blessings of God without obedience, without submission, without repentance, then that blessing is diminished or even removed. Just like the Children of Israel instead of sweet manna we will wake up to worms and rot.