Daily Devotional

I don't know about you, but I love pizza. The slow-fermented crust, the sun-ripened sauce, the fromage of mozzarella, and the delicate crown of toppings all assembled to create a decadent symphony of molten golden deliciousness…Mmmmm! If you didn’t know, it might be obvious now that my family and I might single-handedly be keeping the industry in business. Of course, I’m being a bit facetious, but we do have pizza almost every Friday night to go with the movie night tradition we started while my wife Alexis was going through chemotherapy.  Now this may sound strange to most, but whenever I have pizza, I’m reminded of God's care for His people.
 
In today’s passage, at this point in the Exodus story, God's people went from feeling like God protected and guided them to feeling like God had completely forgotten and abandoned them to wander alone in the desert. They were upset with Moses and Aaron because the provisions to survive the wilderness were not being met. They even longed for slavery back in Egypt because at least they had food to eat in Egypt. The feeling of being hungry and hot would compound if you also felt like the reason you were in the situation you were in is that God forgot about you or misled you. The journey in the wilderness shows us how God moved toward His people with compassion, hearing their frustrations and providing for them, once again giving them a food called “manna.” God's provision bolstered the faith of His people, encouraging them once again that they could trust God to come through. It might not look how we expect, it might not happen when we want, but God always keeps His promises even when we doubt.
 
Now, pizza didn't exist until long after the Exodus story took place, but manna was something readily available to God's people and a symbol of His care. Yet before His providing, the Israelites were probably thinking what many of us think in times of difficulty, “Does God even care about me?” “Is God going to come through for me?” “Has God forgotten about me?” The human element of the story should remind us that we’ve all been guilty of complaining to God while forgetting what He’s done for us. As God provided for His people daily in the morning, He reminded them of His faithfulness. For me, pizza will always be a reminder of God’s faithfulness because it takes me back to a time when I had my own doubts about God’s provision for me and my family. And while you and I may never have manna in our lifetime, maybe we can think of something else that reminds us of God's care. Maybe something as simple as pizza.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.