Hoarding the Manna

How are we to handle the gifts of God? This has been on my mind, if only because I just got back from a one-week family vacation in Palm Springs. Although the temperature in Palm Springs sometimes approaches that of Hades, I do believe that time spent with family can be a gift from the hand of God Himself. Psalm 133:1 puts it this way: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.”

But again, how are we to handle God’s gifts? I ask this because I find myself wanting to go back to last week and re-receive God’s gift. What is one to do with this desire? Perhaps the clearest answer I’ve found is in Exodus 16, wherein God gives manna to ancient Israel as they move through the desert to the Promised Land. Before the manna is given, God and Moses instruct the people on how to receive it: “Gather as much of it as each of you needs…Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” (Exodus 16:16,19)

In short, God’s gift was to be received in proportion to each one’s needs, and it was not to be coveted or clung to. When Israel didn’t listen to God’s Word and tried to hoard the manna, “it bred worms and became foul.” (Exodus 16:20) This same lesson holds true today, yes? That is, if we try to hoard the gifts of God, do they not become rotten just like the manna did? Are not even our memories of good times spoiled by the covetous desire to recreate the past?

The enduring lesson: God’s gifts are not to be coveted and hoarded, but received with an open hand and a thankful heart. (“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21) This is because the gifts themselves – as nice as they are – are not primary. Rather, what’s primary is the Gift-Giver. The gifts are in fact signs that point beyond themselves to the One who gives them. Ultimately, God’s great desire is to give us not just His gifts, but Himself.

Jesus makes this quite clear in John 6. He feeds the crowd with five loaves and two fish, and later tells them, “You are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the Food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” So how are we to handle the gifts of God? The answer: receive them as good things that point beyond themselves to their Giver. Receive them according to God’s Word – that is, according to and in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Said in a different way (but still the same Way), receive them in faith, hope, and love.

This puts the kibosh on coveting or hoarding. Can we really say that we have faith in God’s provision while we simultaneously hoard what He has provided? At their best, God’s gifts are signs of Something infinitely greater. It’s the Gift-Giver’s Son and Spirit who is the ultimate Gift, the One to be clung to and loved with our whole heart, soul, and mind. He promises to provide not just perishable things like manna and Palm Springs vacations, but the imperishable Bread of Life and eternal joy and rest in His Kingdom.

As a final and important note, the Gift of Christ doesn’t abolish the worldly and temporal gifts of God. Rather, insofar as we receive these things according to His Way and in His Spirit, He lifts them up into Heaven and Eternity – He redeems them – so that they can serve their proper function: pointing to the God who provides. For that reason, there is cause for hope that God's gifts (in this case, my family and my Palm Springs vacation) will be lifted up on that Last Day, and that I'll be able to enjoy them with a pure and perfect joy, basking in God's great blessing and praising His glory.