It is customary at my job that if we schedule a work meeting over lunch, the company provides lunch. So, I really don't mind lunch meetings, and this week I got lucky. It was quite a spread, with all different types of sandwiches, chips, macaroni and cheese, salad, and a whole box of cookies. For a girl who loves to eat, seeing the counter covered in food is always a welcome sight.
Everything was as good at it looked. I love chicken salad on a croissant, and this was a good chicken salad. The fruit was fresh. The mac and cheese had the perfect cheese sauce. I also helped myself to some delicious chocolate chip cookies.
The next day at work, I was excited for lunch because I wanted surf through the work refrigerator to find some leftovers. I was ready for another beautiful chicken salad sandwich and I already knew I was going to have a gigantic serving of mac and cheese. I hauled the leftovers out onto the counter and loaded up my plate.
But, do you know what happened? Those sandwiches that were so amazing the day before had gotten soggy in the refrigerator overnight. The mac and cheese that I had my heart set upon wasn't nearly as good reheated. The salad had wilted. The cookies were all gone.
My lunch was a bit of a disappointment, much to my, well, disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I ate it anyway. But, it definitely wasn't the same experience.
It reminded me of Exodus when Moses rescued the Israelites from harsh slavery under the Egyptians. They had gone into the wilderness, but unfortunately they didn't have any microwaveable dinners with them. So, God himself rained manna from the clouds for them to eat every day. Each and every morning, the Israelites would wake up and gather manna. But if they stored manna overnight, even just one night, it would rot. They would have soggy manna sandwiches.
It is fascinating to me that God created such an incredible miracle by raining of manna from the sky, but He didn't preserve the manna overnight. Why? Maybe He didn't want the Israelites to get lazy, lying around eating their canned manna. But, more likely, He was making a point. He would take care of them every day, each and every day. He showed them they could depend on Him.
God really does present each day as a new opportunity, doesn't He? We are to live on what He gives us. We can expect Him to show up and see us through. But, if we try to live off of our own works, our things we've stored up, we are going to end up with soggy sandwiches. A bad imitation of the real thing.
I think this is why Jesus always said to never worry about tomorrow. Each and every day is new, and when we worry about tomorrow, we're forgetting one important thing. God's mercies for tomorrow will be given tomorrow. The manna rained from the sky every morning, not two days ahead of time. His mercy is given when it is needed.
But, the devil plays mind games with us. He wants us to believe our success is in our own hands and that everything depends on our skills and talents. The weight of the world is on our shoulders, and it rests on our abilities. Before long, we start to fear our own failures. But, fear discounts God. It removes Him from the equation. The only way we are victorious over our trials is because of God's strength, not our own.
If the Israelites had to worry every day about how they were going to rain manna from the sky, I would imagine that would have been a very stressful existence. But, God was the one who rained the manna from the sky. The Israelites used their skills and talents to collect the blessings from God, they were the beneficiaries of His mercy. The victory over their starvation was won by God, not by their talents.
God is our Savior. He saves us. He goes ahead of us. He ensures our victories. He doesn't just "help" us. He is the conqueror of our trials, the victor over problems that should normally defeat us. He's the reason David conquered Goliath. He's the reason Moses parted the Red Sea. We don't have to manifest the miracles.
We simply have to show up and believe in the One who can defeat our problems.
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