“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3, NIV
I love to get up early in the morning. Is there anything better than a quiet house, the Word of God and a large mug of freshly brewed coffee? Today I was reading in the book of Exodus about how God gave the Israelites manna in the morning for forty years as they wandered in the desert (Exodus 16). In a supernatural act, God caused a heavenly rain to fall around the Israelite camp as the people slept. The people awoke each morning to watch fresh dew transform into thin frost-like flakes on the desert floor. The manna had to be collected before it melted away in the heat of the day. The people called the bread “manna” because they didn’t know what it was. The Bible says that this bread tasted like wafers made with honey after it was ground into flour and baked into cakes. At first, some of the people tried to hoard the heavenly grain, but God caused it to spoil when they tried to keep it overnight. It didn’t matter if the Israelites collected the manna for one second or one hour, because by the time that they got the harvest home they had just enough manna to feed each person in the family. The only time that God allowed the bread to be stored was on the sixth day of the week, because God did not send manna on the Sabbath. God also ordered Moses to put a one-day supply of manna in a jar (one omer ~ 3.7 quarts) and place it before the Lord to show the generations to come. In obedience Aaron placed the jar in front of the Testimony, which were the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God with the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 31:18)
Isn’t it amazing how God gave the Israelites exactly what they needed at the precise time that it was required? Sometimes I think of God’s Word is a form of “manna in the morning” because He always seems to lead me to a verse of encouragement or a verse of correction exactly when I need it. It doesn’t seem to matter if I read a little or a lot in the morning because I always receive exactly what is necessary. As the Israelites arose early in the morning to get their manna before the sun melted it away, I arise early to collect God’s instruction before I face the opportunities and challenges of the day. For me, Manna and Coffee is where the supernatural meets the natural. It is where God’s perfection touches my imperfection. A large bowl of cereal with milk is great, but a bowl of Heavenly frosted flakes is so much better!
Jesus said that He is the true Bread from Heaven that gives life to the world and that whoever “comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:32-35, NIV). Just as the jar of manna and the tablets of the Testimony were placed together before the Lord in the desert, the cleansing blood of Christ, and God’s Testimony will be before the Lord in Heaven for all eternity (Hebrews 9). Are you hungry for True Bread today? Are you thirsty for Water that will quench your deepest spiritual thirst? Then let us feast on Jesus together this morning and drink deeply of the Holy Spirit so that we can obey Jesus and “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Manna and Coffee 