Our Daily Manna

^{Exodus 16;4} Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 

The words "a certain quota" were translated from a single and very common Hebrew word "Davar" which means word or thing. If I replace the phrase "A certain quota" with "word", it reads like this. "And the people shall go out and gather a word every day." I would like to take it one step further and give the literal translation of every day as well. It reads "of the day, in it's day". So let us translate this on more time. "And the people shall go out and gather the word of the day in its day."

This doesn't necessarily change the meaning of the verse so much as it adds clarity for me. It clearly states to me that God sends a word from heaven daily and He is calling us to get up and gather our spiritual food for the day by going to His Word. It is necessary every day. If I ate a meal yesterday. It does not nourish me today. If I eat a meal today it won't nourish me for tomorrow.

^{Deuteronomy 8:3} So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. 

we see that this "word", manna, quota, is the bread that is necessary for their sustenance in their wilderness journey which is representative of our journey through life this side of heaven (the promised land). Our physical need is a representation of a greater eternal spiritual need.

^{Matthew 4:1} Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

The Greek word used for "Word" here is Rhema and it is comparable in definition to the Word Davar in Hebrew.

Here we see the "Word" as an even more vital necessity than our physical needs. And if Jesus (Yeshua) was sustained by it how much more must I. Again our physical need is representative of our spiritual need.

In Isaiah 55 we read that our thoughts and our ways just won't cut it, but we are invited to come up higher by receiving what He rains down from heaven upon us.

Isaiah 55:¹⁰ “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, 

      And do not return there, 
      But water the earth, 
      And make it bring forth and bud, 
      That it may give seed to the sower 
      And bread to the eater, 
       ¹¹ So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; 
      It shall not return to Me void, 
      But it shall accomplish what I please, 
      And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 

His words are not just words they are things that will accomplish things. In Western thought we tend to think of words as "just" words. they aren't anything but in Hebrew thought words have substance they are active and alive and as real as the food we eat. Whatever God has spoken is out there ready to be discovered, gathered, and consumed.

I am going to take it another notch up and declare that the "Word" is not only a thing but a person.

John 1:¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

So when we spend time in His "Word" we are spending time with our God and Savior Yeshua, with His thoughts, and His Ways. What a privilege!! What an honor to hear the Words of God sent forth from heaven.

^{John 15:4} Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

This has been my greatest discovery in spending time with Him daily in His "Word" that without Him I can do nothing. Without Him I am nothing.