Manna for Today
“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” ~ Deuteronomy 8:3
Do you ever have one of those songs that absolutely won’t leave your head? It’s everywhere you go. You hear it when you wake up, when you are driving to work in the morning, in the grocery line checkout–it won’t go away!
I find that this is my essential existence as a music teacher. Whatever pieces we are studying in choir show up in the most random places in my life, and it is a side effect I enjoy–for the most part (No one wants to hear “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” on repeat in their head while they are trying to sleep).
These past two weeks have been no different. I have started teaching “You’ve Already Won” by Shane and Shane to the students and have decided that all of my choirs from SCHS, BCCS, and DCS should know it, which means I have heard this song approximately 100 times in the last two days. This may be an exaggeration, but there has been a much better outcome in this situation: the lyrics have turned into a soundtrack of daily worship for me. Verse 3 and the chorus say:
There’s mercy in the waiting
Manna for today
And when it’s gone, I know you’re not
You are my hope and stay
I’m fighting a battle
You’ve already won
No matter what comes my way
I will overcome
I don’t know what you’re doing
But I know what you’ve done
I’m fighting a battle You’ve already won
And it hit me. Manna for today. Can you believe that our Lord fed His people physical bread from heaven for forty years in the desert?! Even after Israel doubted God’s plan for them, He provided. Day after day, the Israelites ate, completely relying on God to keep them alive in their years of wandering.
We serve a God who parts seas for His people, feeds them in the desert, levels city walls, shuts the mouths of lions, conquers kings and nations, and provides. What a comfort! It is so comforting to know that the God who is still living and breathing and with us today is the God who has been endlessly faithful to us in the past. What a blessing that we know our “manna for today” will be provided and that even when we are in hard times Jesus Christ will remain our hope. For we do not live on manna alone, but on every word, on every faithfulness of God.
Katie DeVries
Choir Teacher