Blessed beyond measure! That was the status of the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness.

They walked, but their shoes never wore out, and their food rained down from Heaven each day.

Think of waking up every morning, walking out on your lawn and picking up breakfast.  No trips to Winn Dixie or Publix.  No checkout lines to wait in.  That would even beat ordering your groceries online.   God always goes beyond what is necessary to show His love, so I know that the manna tasted good, too.

The Israelites, though, got a little tired of it.  You know, fried manna for breakfast, manna sandwiches for lunch, and manna meatloaf with mashed manna for dinner.  They had plenty – over and above what they needed – but they were not satisfied.  They wanted something different, so they complained.

Their attitude sort of reminds me of myself.  Sometimes I think “Lord, I could sure use a little of that manna.  Could You drop some down?”  I look at the vehicle in the garage, still running well, and say “a new car sure would smell nice”, or I walk through my comfortable home and determine “gotta have a new rug”.  I may even bite into a chicken breast and dream of steak.

Like the Israelites, I am blessed beyond measure, but I am not always content with God’s wonderful gifts.

My life is full of manna from God – daily provision for my every need.  My discontent doesn’t lie in God’s provision; it lives in my attitude toward His provision for me.

Every day I have a choice – gratitude or grumbling, delight or despair.

Every day, my choice has consequences – delicious contentment or bitter dissatisfaction.

Today, I choose gratitude, and I thank God for His abundant blessings in my life.

John 6:31 – Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Numbers 11:⁴ And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: ⁶ But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. ⁷ And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. ⁸ And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. ⁹ And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”  I Timothy 6:6

Photo – Abundance, Beth Mims

This post is modified from an earlier post.