Biblical Stewardship: Wondering in the Wilderness…aka Learning to Trust God to Provide Resources
By: Brian Seay, CFA
In Exodus 16, Israel has escaped from Egypt and been in the desert long enough for their food and other resources to run out. The Israelites natural response was to start complaining to God. Why did he bring them into the desert to starve? As if that was the plan from the beginning? Not hardly. They forgot that God was the same God that brought the plagues on Egypt and parted the Red Sea.
God hears their complaints and gives Israel instructions to collect quail meat and mana (bread) through Moses. They are instructed to eat quail in the evening and mana in the morning, and that they should collect enough only for that day because God will renew their supply each day. God says explicitly at the beginning that he’s testing them to see if they will “walk in his law or not.” He knows full well that some will need to learn the hard way.
The first evening the quail comes, everyone collects their quail and eats. The next morning, the mana comes, again the Israelites are amazed, and they eat. Some then collect more than they need for the day. They don’t trust that more will appear the next day.
For those that collected too much the prior day, by the next morning their “extra” Mana had worms. It had expired. But God, true to his promise, provided new mana and quail for everyone that day. Even though they knew it was a test, they still gathered more than they needed because their human nature caused them to worry about having enough. Sound familiar?
On day 6, God instructs Israel to gather enough mana and quail for 2 days so that they can rest on the Sabbath, day 7. Of course, on this occasion, the bread and quail lasted a full two days, no spoilage. The issue wasn’t the quality of the mana and quail that made the difference, it was the quality of the Israelites faith that God would provide.
I think the modern application of Exodus 16 is that trusting God first is of paramount importance. When we place our trust in other things, possessions, money, investments etc., those things can rot and ultimately fail us. We see that happening to those Israelites that store up extra provisions, their resources ultimately go bad.
Today, we aren’t in the wilderness and God has not specifically asked us to only have enough money on hand to meet our needs for a day. There is lots of other scripture that speaks to investing and saving wisely. We will get there. However, our TRUST should still be placed in God. Not in a retirement account, investments, real estate or our job. All businesses and markets eventually go through recessions, downturns and hard times. People get laid off, reorganized out or just plain fired. Most businesses eventually fail. But God will give us what we need, when we need it, just like Ancient Israel.
How would you feel if your assets were suddenly gone? If your retirement account went to zero? What would you do? Would your sense of personal worth or confidence be impaired? Is your sense of personal value tied up in the size of your net worth statement?
Israel, like many of us, needed to be reminded of this lesson frequently. The next chapter, after God sent the plagues, parted the Red Sea and miraculously provided bread and quail from heaven, Israel began to worry about having water in the desert. It makes me smile, because I know that I struggle to trust God for resourcing just like the Israelites. God, of course, provides water from a rock. Israel, once again, had the provision is needed.
Trusting God for provision should free us up to use our resources to build our families and his kingdom. Not unwisely, but intentionally, knowing that God will provide for us when we need it.