Manna for Forty Years

 

See it with your mind
Feel it in your heart
The stark endless
The hot ruthless
Cruel desert plain
Suddenly clothed in pristine shimmering white

He gave a command to the skies above
And opened the doors of heaven¹
He rained down…

“What is it?” They wondered
The bread the Lord has given you to eat
Moses answered

Beautiful, women breathed
Amazing, men added
Yummy, children sighed
Jehovah Jireh
the Lord provided

He gave them the grain of heaven
[His people] ate the bread of angels²

From one day to one week
Did the wonderment persist?
From one year to forty
Did gratitude still exist?

I wonder

As a mother gathered with her child
Did she say each day
Remember this, my love
We are free
We are filled
Because of the Lord’s love

As the people started out each morning
Was the awe still as strong
How high how deep how wide how long
Is our Father’s love

As families sat down to dine
Did each bite taste
Better than Egypt’s finest meat and wine
Or did they groan
Bitterly at the dreary sameness
The heart-, soul-, might-, mind-numbing mundanity

When my hands first held
The chance to serve the Lord
I wondered that He,
all the millions in the world
thousands in the church
Had chosen me
unclean lips
unworthy heart
To be His vessel

To be like You Lord
I whispered then

You emptied Yourself
Your food, to do the Father’s will
You loved the loveless, unloved and unloving
Broke bread with he who meant you ill
You fed You taught You healed You touched
You rested little, labored much

To give my best
To do no less
I resolved then

From one day to one week
Does the wonderment persist?
From one year to many
Does the gratitude still exist?

I wonder

Beautiful Savior, I breathed
Amazing grace, my heart added
Help this child always remember
Jehovah Nissi
the Lord, my banner
Help me love and serve You
all my heart my soul my might my mind
The Lord
my bread of life.

 

1.        Psalm 28:23-24

2.        Psalm 78:24-25