Bread from Heaven

What's your favorite breakfast? This is the story of a breakfast that came down from the sky, morning after morning, for forty years!

God had rescued his people, the Israelites, from Egypt, and led them safely through the sea. Now they were walking through the wilderness. That's a big, dry, empty land, with sand and rocks and wind, and hardly any food. Soon their tummies began to rumble. And then their voices began to rumble too. Grumble, grumble, grumble! They grumbled at Moses and his brother Aaron. In Egypt we had pots full of meat and all the bread we wanted, they said. Now we're going to starve out here!

But God heard their grumbling, and he had a plan. He told Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you."

Bread from the sky, like rain? What a strange and wonderful idea! Each day, the people were to go out and gather just enough for that day. God wanted to see if they would listen and trust him. That evening, a big flock of little birds called quail flew in and covered the whole camp. Meat for dinner!

The next morning, the ground was wet with dew. And when the dew dried up, something was left behind. Little round flakes, thin and white, like frost on the ground, all around the camp. The people scratched their heads. They said to one another, "What is it?" Moses said, "It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat."

They called it manna. And what did it taste like? The Bible says, "its taste was like wafers with honey." Like sweet honey crackers. Yum! Every family gathered as much as they needed. Some gathered a lot, and some gathered a little. But here's the amazing part. When they measured it, everyone had just the right amount. Nobody had too much, and nobody had too little.

Moses told them not to save any for the next day. God would send more in the morning. But some people didn't listen. They kept some, just in case. And the next morning? Eww! It was full of wiggly worms, and it smelled terrible! God wanted them to trust him for today, and to let him take care of tomorrow.

So every morning they gathered the manna. And when the sun grew hot, whatever was left on the ground melted away. Then God gave them a special day of rest. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much, enough for two days.

And this time, the extra manna stayed fresh all night. No worms. No smell! On the seventh day, there was no manna on the ground at all. It was the Sabbath, a day to rest and remember God. A few people went out to look for some anyway. But they didn't find a single flake. So the people rested on the seventh day.

God fed his people with manna for forty years, until they came to the edge of their new land.

Forty years of breakfasts! And God never forgot his people, not for a single day.

This story teaches us that we can trust God to give us what we need, one day at a time.

It's just like Jesus taught us to pray: "Give us today our daily bread."