WHEN Jehovah brought His people Israel out of the land of Egypt, He led them into the wilderness, where there was no food for them to eat. Then the people began to murmur, and they said to Moses and Aaron, "Ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (Ex. 16:33And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (Exodus 16:3).) There were no corn-fields, no abundant fruit trees around them which could support their vast multitudes, and, we need not say, no stores or shops where food could be bought. I wonder what you would have done had you been a little Israelite with your parents in the wilderness, instead of being as you are, an English child living in a happy home. It is only likely that you, too, would have cried, "We shall all die of hunger.”
Whatever happens in this world, people must eat. Whether armies of soldiers, or families of little boys and girls, we all must eat or die. No wonder then that children cried when they found themselves in a great place of rocks and mountains, where no food was to be had, with only tufts of grass and shrubs around them, and when the reply to their request for food was, "We have none to give you.”
Do you not sometimes think, as you look at the homely, brown-coated, little chirping sparrow, how that Jesus said, "Not one of them is forgotten before God: but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered"? (Luke 12:6, 76Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 7But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:6‑7).) If God feeds the sparrows He will care for us. When He heard the cry of His people for food, in the wilderness, He said, "I will rain bread from heaven for you"; and so it was "when the dew 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." This was the bread God had rained from heaven.
You who have been out early on a bright frosty morning, and have watched the early sunlight glistening on the sparkling frost, can easily picture to yourselves what this wonderful bread looked like which God rained from heaven.
It was sweet to the taste, like wafers made with honey; so the little children would relish the food the gracious God had sent to their parents' tent doors.
When the people saw this bread they were very astonished, and said one to another, “What is this?" They did not know what it was. I wonder how many amongst them had been waiting and watching for the food Jehovah had promised them the day before. Such as had faith in Him would be on the look-out for His gifts. Those who love God, and believe Him, expect the fulfillment of His promises. It is impossible to believe God and not to look out for the working of His hand.
If your father had promised you a gift, you would be constantly expecting the present, for you would believe your father's word, and this would be having faith in your father.
Now when Jehovah fed His people Israel with bread from heaven, He not only satisfied their hunger, He also gave them the manna in such a way as to prove their hearts' trust in Himself: "The people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no." They were to trust Him for the way He gave them their bread. They were to gather up a given quantity for the day's eating, and no more.
Your parents do not give you a large loaf on Monday morning to last you all the week, do they? That would be an odd child who after having had its breakfast should say, "Please, mother, put a slice of bread on the table that I may have it before my eyes all day long, for I fear you will forget me when dinner-time or tea-time comes round." And if a child were to slip a piece of bread in his pocket at breakfast-time for fear his kind mother should forget that her little boy would be hungry by-and-by, his mother would look with a very sad face upon her unbelieving child. I know a great many happy little children having loving parents, but I do not know one amongst them all who ever thinks his parents will forget to give him bread to eat at meal times.
Now we have said Jehovah proved the children of Israel, to see whether they would believe He would give them their daily bread. So He bade them gather a given quantity every morning, and you will see them in our picture hard at work picking up the little round white balls of bread. And how they must work! for when the sun is up the manna will melt away—God does not encourage people to be lazy.
Alas! not all the children of Israel trusted Jehovah, for some were in spirit, like the child we have imagined storing up his bread, lest his mother should forget to give him his meals. “Let no man leave of it till the morning," said Moses." Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank.”
The sparrows have neither storehouse nor barn, but God feeds them; and you, dear children, are of more value than many sparrows. Jehovah loved His people Israel and therefore could never let them starve in the wilderness, whither He had brought them. If He leads you to any place or to any duty, He will take care of you there. What He begins He carries on and finishes. There is not one child, however small, who really believes on Jesus, whom God will not carry all the way to heaven; and He will feed that child with spiritual food on the way. It would not be like God to forsake any one He had taken up in His grace. No loving father could forsake his children, and God is our Father, and loves us with an everlasting love.
We have more to say on the manna, but not today.