So, today (the day I composed most of this) is a snow day at school. For me, the best thing to do on a snow day, besides making a pot of soup and playing with my grandchildren, is going for a hike in the woods. What a beautiful display! Fluffy snowflakes floating silently down from the sky, covering everything in glorious white! Just wow! There are so many encouraging words that could come from this experience. White alone could take up multiple blog posts. But today my thoughts are on bread.
I love bread. Every kind of bread. Warm bread, fresh out of the oven. Crusty bread. Chewy bread. Bread with butter slathered all over it. I love the yeasty smell of bread as it rises and bakes. Honestly, everything about bread is absolutely glorious. Except for its effect on my body. Yes, sadly, I am one of those bread and carbohydrate avoidant people. I have not eaten bread on a regular basis for over seven months. My body does not miss it. My palate does.
Yet here I am, walking in this snowy winter wonderland, thinking about bread. As I lift my face to the sky to watch giant snowflakes drift gently down, I find my thoughts wandering to manna. I imagine lifting my face to the sky as the Israelites must have done, watching in utter astonishment as bread, BREAD, drifted down from heaven itself. Currently, the snow I am walking through is about 3 inches deep and still falling. The snow is hanging on the trees and adorning everything in white. It is truly a sight to behold. But bread on the ground would be an even greater sight to behold. I mean, that has to be every carbohydrate, bread-loving person‘s idea of heaven!
Here’s how that story played out in Exodus 16. The children of Israel complained against God after He brought them out of the land of Egypt. They complained that they would starve in the wilderness, wishing they were back in Egypt eating leaks. (Really? Leaks?). Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you” (4). The Lord said, “In the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God” (12). So, “in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground” (13-14). When the children of Israel saw it, they questioned what it was, so Moses told them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat” (15). The Bible records that they “called its name manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (31).
Not going to lie…that description makes my mouth water! I wonder if the manna was warm, like fresh from the oven. I wonder if it was crusty. Was it buttery? Did it taste a little like baklava? Did it taste fresh? Haha…that’s the best part of all! That manna was New- it was FRESH- every morning! No leftovers! No stale bread! What a bread-eating carb-lover’s paradise!!
I love that Jesus begins His list of “I Am” statements with “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). John writes, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (6:33). Something about that just makes me smile. It makes my heart smile. And it makes my taste buds smile. Jesus certainly knows the way to our hearts. Just as God rained manna on the Israelites while they sojourned in the wilderness- to sustain them, to feed them, to preserve them- Jesus is the bread of life raining down on us. Sustaining us. Feeding us. Preserving us.
Sadly, I have eaten bread and always been hungry for more. Bread is one of those foods that never satisfies. I have never reached a point in my life where I’ve felt that I had eaten all the bread I would ever need or want to eat. My palate has always had a constant hunger for more bread. But Jesus, the bread of life, satisfies. Jesus said, “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Once we have sampled Jesus, once we have feasted on Jesus, the Bible says we will never hunger again. We will be filled. Full. Because Jesus is filling. His righteousness is filling. He is all we need, all we will ever need. And just like that literal bread from heaven, Jesus is NEW every morning! His love and His mercy? New. Fresh. Never stale. Never old.
So wherever you are today….enjoy some bread. The literal kind, sure. Spread the butter on it nice and thick! Eat a piece for me while you’re at it! But more, enjoy the Bread of Heaven. Let Him fill you today. You will never taste anything as sweet! You will never taste anything as filling. And you will never want anything else! I guarantee it!