Why did God allow the children of Israel to suffer hunger and then feed them with manna? He tells us why in Deuteronomy 8. They needed to learn that they could not live by food alone; they must receive every word that came from God’s mouth and obey it.
The manna was food they could not provide for themselves by their own efforts; only God could provide the needed food in the wilderness. God knew and provided that when they got into the land. He blessed them with riches. They were apt to forget the need to obey God’s word and take credit for being rich, saying, “My power, and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (Deut. 8:1717And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:17)).
Are we not in the same danger? When God blesses, it is so easy to take the credit for it and forget the true source of the blessing. When that happens, the need to live in dependence and obedience by every word that comes from God is forgotten. The Lord Jesus did not forget. He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” As a result, He could also say to the disciples, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” Now we, too, can know and feed upon that meat.