Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wine and Manna

I came up with this and felt like I should share it. Again, it's not super entertaining, just something that I thought was profound (maybe it's not to you. Maybe you're way more enlightened than me and are spiritually beyond stuff like this. In which case, just go ahead and click on the little red 'x' up in the corner to close the browser. Then go hang out with all of your spiritually enlightened friends and you can talk about what a simpleton I am. But believe you me, I'll be talking to all of my friends about how lame you are because you use the word 'simpleton.' I mean really, who in this day and age uses the word 'simpleton?'  You deserve to be made fun of for that. You've brought it on yourself).

I haven't been too big on reading the Bible lately...or ever, really. It's not that I don't like the Bible, I really do. I think it's a great book - the best book, really. And it's not that I don't get anything out of reading the Bible. I often do, even if it's just a sense of peace and closeness with God. I just, for whatever reason, have never been able to make a habit out of reading that book every day. I'll go a month or two reading it daily and then something will happen and I'll stop for awhile. Then I'll start back up, then stop again. It's kind of the story of my life. Anyway, I've been reading again lately, and I feel like I'm getting some very good things from what I've been reading. You see, my sending church does this awesome thing where every week they send out a study on the passages that have been (or will be...I can't figure that out because I never hear the sermons) preached that week. And you can use that study for your own personal quiet time as well as for discussions between friends and family and during community group times. It's a great idea, in my opinion, and It's been very helpful for me to have some sort of structure every week to be able to follow.

Last week I studied the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. For extra reading, the guide suggested that I read back in Exodus to freshen up on the "manna" story. Pretty amazing stuff, really. And while I was reading it, I thought of something:
SOMETIMES GOD TURNS WATER INTO WINE. AND SOMETIMES HE GIVES US MANNA.
Now maybe this isn't profound to you, but it certainly was to me. Sometimes God does something so amazing and unexpected and undeserved that he blesses us beyond what we could ever imagine. He gives us something that we wouldn't dream to ask for and, to be honest, that we don't even need. That's the wine.

But sometimes God just gives us manna. This stuff that is filling, but not the most amazing thing in the world. It'll keep us from dying, but it's not like we're feasting on anything incredible. Even the quail probably got old after 40 years. Have you ever eaten the same thing for a long period of time? Even the most delicious of meals is undesirable after the 3rd, 4th, or 5th tasting. I've had the same meal 3-5 times a day for 5 days in a row before, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

So sometimes we get the wine, sometimes we get the manna. But what I've found myself wondering is, "If God can turn the water into wine, why doesn't He always do that?" I've heard amazing stories about God's supernatural provision in people's lives. You hear about incredible, miraculous blessings all the time. But why doesn't He always do that? My desire for the wine took away from my appreciation for the manna. Both are miracles. Wine out of water? Insane! No one can do that! Unidentifiable food that appears every morning out of nowhere? Again, absolutely unthinkable! It's a total miracle, but I overlook it in my own life when the manna is the sustenance to get by for the day. When manna means that I survived another day or that I had just enough grace within me to overpower one or two evil urges, I don't appreciate it. Even though I know that the strength to survive or overpower those urges could not have come from me, it doesn't seem nearly as miraculous as seeing my circumstances immediately change or stumbling upon something that automatically makes living life 100% easier.

So my goal is to be grateful for the manna. It's been my 1-word prayer recently, whenever things get tough. And I'm hoping that in being grateful for the manna, the wine will be all the sweeter to taste when it comes.

2 comments:

Jabbott said...

Good stuff Corrie. Something I hadn't really thought of before.

But why you gotta hate on the use of simpleton? Its a fun word. And its so descriptive of so many people. :-)

Connie said...

Great thoughts Corrie. I enjoyed reading this and it really made me think.