Exodus 16:17-18 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.

There was no lack. The glutton had just as much provision as the fastidious and all were satisfied. If you tried to take more it would spoil, so that God made sure every person had exactly what they needed. God still meets the needs of His children today and yet when God tells us that we have no need to worry because He will take care of the need, we quickly forget when resources appear exhausted. Many of us are familiar with this scripture:

Matthew 6:31–34 “Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat?’ or What shall we drink?’ or What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Of course, Jesus said that about 1500 years after the events of the Exodus which tells us that the same struggles of faith during the Exodus were struggles in the time of Jesus and they are still struggles now.

In chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews we see some of the heroes of faith … those who were willing to lay down everything for God even when they could not see anything but obstacles. But that was not meant to be an exhaustive list. In fact, the book of 1 Peter commends some that did not make that list in Hebrews:

1 Peter 1:8b–9 Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Faith is an interesting thing … the more you use it the more you have. It’s a great deal … the more you use it the more you get. If only our gas tanks and bank accounts would operate on that principal, right? Faith is like a muscle you exercise. The more you use it, the bigger and stronger it gets. We may look up to those men of faith from scripture but there are those who look up to us as heroes of faith … can you guess who?

A little girl’s second-grade class was asked to write about their personal heroes. Her father was flattered to find out that she had chosen him. “Why did you pick me?” he asked her later. “Because I couldn’t spell Arnold Schwarzenegger,” she replied.

And I’m not sure that I spelled it right, either. Yeah, our children look up to us as heroes of faith but there are others who want to know why we have such joy and hope in life when despair and hopelessness dominate these days … maybe a spouse, a coworker or a friend. So, we should consider that our faith in God (or lack of faith) in times of difficulty will make an impression on others.

I know it’s hard and I know trials can be like long dark tunnels with no escape hatch … but when we emerge from those trials, we emerge better than when we went in. In Exodus … in their wanderings in the wilderness, God was teaching Israel … concerned with and providing for each individual just as He is teaching me and you that He will provide for our needs each and every day.