Can We Be Happy With Manna?
Joe Slater
	You’ve heard he cliché: “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” When the flesh rules, it doesn’t matter what you have – you want something more, or different, or both. Children like their birthday presents until they see their friends toys – then they want those instead. Adults aren’t much different.
	God blessed Israel with manna, a kind of bread that miraculously appeared each morning. But Israel complained, “Who will give us meat to eat?” (Numbers 11:4). You remember the pattern: gripe, gripe, gripe! If it wasn’t food, it was water; or Moses’ leadership; or the big, bad Canaanites; or whatever else didn’t suit their fancy at the moment.
	I’d like to say the church has grown beyond that kind of behavior, but it wouldn’t be true. Across this nation, influential voices (big-name preachers, “Christian” University professors, journal editors, et. al.) are demanding that the church change with the times. We must overhaul our assemblies, they tell us. Dim the lights; clap and cheer; replace sermons with dramatic skits and personal testimonies; and bring on the solos, special singing groups, and choirs. Additionally, they insist, we must drop our opposition to instrumental music accompanying our singing, put women into positions of leadership, and embrace denominationalism. Otherwise, they assure us, the church will simply fade into obscurity as a bunch of hide-bound traditionalists.
	Is there a connection between all of this and the manna problem? Most definitely! Just as Israel refused to be content with manna, so the change agents reject the simple pattern of the New Testament. Only a year earlier, Israel had complained that they had no food, so God began giving them manna (Exodus 16). But now manna was “old hat.” They wanted something new, something different. Likewise, some people embrace the gospel when they are spiritually starving; but as time passes, they become discontented and demand something that tastes different.
	Significantly, Israel’s trouble in Numbers 14 began when the mixed multitude (non-Israelites who accompanied them) began craving other food. Their influence corrupted the Israelites, who began complaining too. Now, where do you suppose the modern change agents come up with their ideas for re-vamping the church? (Hint: It isn’t from a careful study of the Bible!) They observe denominational mega-churches, copying whatever gimmicks are producing the explosive growth there. Sadly, they fail to recognize the one growth-producing agent God Himself provided for us: the truth!
	Can we be happy with manna? Actually, the question isn’t “can we,” it’s “will” we be content with God’s way as revealed in the New Testament? It’s a choice we’ll have to make. To echo Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
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Challenges bring Growth
	For thirty years under the Borgias, Italy had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Rennaisance.
	In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.
	It is in the kiln of spiritual battle and adversity that the Character of Christ is hardened in us.
    	 --Billy Ricks (via KneMail) 
Just Look Up!
	If you put a bumble bee in a jar and leave the top open, it will probably die there.  The bumble bee persists in trying to find a way out of the sides and bottom of the jar.  It doesn't look up or fly up.
	Someone once said, "Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up."  So true.  In our deep sorrow, we often say, "If only..."  We spend time groping for comfort in the past.  Our memories may comfort us or torture us, but we look to the past.  When we are worried, we often turn to others as we look for a solution to our problems.
	David knew what it was like to be burdened with problems.  "I am faint and sore bruised: I have groaned by reason of the disquietness of my heart," he said (Psalm 38:8).  David looked up.  "Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee," he concluded (Psalm 38:9).
	When we have problems and look up, whom do we see?  We have a loving Savior who promised, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).  He has been tempted as we are tempted, and He understands.  He wants us to put all our sorrows and cares on Him.  What else can we do, but just look up to our God and our precious Lord Jesus Christ?  We say, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him" (Psalm 28:7).
	--Donna Richmond Wittlif (Denver, CO)