Give Us This Day our Daily WHAT-IS-IT?

“What IS this?!” my kids say to the unfamiliar food on their plate.

      “Try it, you’ll like it.  And it’s healthy!” is my natural parental response.

             “I don’t like this” the 3-year-old announces without even trying a bite.

Didn’t my kids just complain about how hungry they were?   And the complaining and whining and arguing ensues about unfamiliar food…    

Sound familiar to anyone else?  For those of us who just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, maybe you tried a new recipe, and all you got was complaints and grumbles and whines of  “what IS this?”

Now let’s  rewind 3000 years.  God’s children, whining and complaining in the desert, also about food.  (See Exodus 16)

The people of Israel have been out of Egypt just over a month, and being in the desert without abundant food has caught up to them.

     “We’re hungry!”
           "Take us back to Egypt where we actually had enough to eat!”
                  “Did you bring us out here just to die?”

And God hears their grumbling and complaints.  Like a parent satisfying his children’s needs, he sends them a unique and new, unfamiliar “bread from heaven.”  

He sends them “what-is-it?”

Yes, he sends them “What-IS-this?!”

Some of us may be familiar with the story, but God replies by sends a bread-like substance to Israel every morning called “manna.” But “manna” literally means “what-is-it?”  The daily bread God gives the people in the desert is literally called, “what-is-it.”  “What-is-it” was what God chose to give his people in a desert where nothing else edible grows. 

              

   "Manna" literally means "what-is-it?"

So what is so significant about this eating of a nameless bread substance?  The fact that it was nameless, meant the people didn’t have to take responsibility for it.  Because it was GOD sending this unknown substance for them to eat, it meant HE – not the people of Israel --  was in control and knew their needs.

And the rest of the story continues in that trend.  God gives them instructions on how much they can take, and everyone is given just enough “what-is-it,” no more and no less.  God gave them exactly what they needed, and continued to be in control and knew their needs...

I think of the things in my life I’ve been complaining and grumbling about, asking God to change some things in my life and worrying about them incessantly.  And so often rather than giving me exactly what I think I need, he gives me something more like “what-IS-this?” 

But the great Provider – God our Father who always gives good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11) –knows exactly what I need, even though I may prefer something I want to “what-is-it.”  So even though I may protest his response to my current worry, concern, or complaint, God is providing exactly what I need, when I need it.  And by us getting “what-is-it?” from him, God is reminding us – “you don’t need to know; trust me with your concerns, your worries, your complaints.  Let your worries be MY responsibility.”

We just finished celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, and we take that day to say thanks and feast in gratefulness for our many blessings.

But how many of us jump right back into grumbling and complaining and worrying about life, rather than giving it up to God, allowing him to take responsibility, and accepting the “whatever-it-is” our Faithful Father gives, the Father who knows what life-food is best for his children?

“Our Father in heaven...

   Give us this day our daily ‘what-is-it’

      Forgive us our unacceptance of the Bread of Life you wish to offer.

        Lead us not into temptation of grumbling and complaining,
          But deliver us from our worry and self-reliance.
            For YOURS is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. 
               Amen.”