I want to ask you a question: What kind of impact do you think it would have on your life if you experienced non-stop miracles? How many of us wish that we could just experience miracles all the time, just a constant flow of God’s supernatural power and provision in our lives? Well this is exactly what the children of Israel experienced when they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.
The whole time that they were in the wilderness, God provided food and water for them. We’re all familiar with this fact, but do you really understand just how much provision that would require? Jewish scholars estimate that there were about three million Israelites when they left Egypt, and to feed all those people, God would have had to send around 4,500 tons of manna every day!
Think of the miracle of that. If you woke up tomorrow morning to find 4,500 tons of manna lying all over your town, that would be huge news! Scientists would fly in from around the world to see it. Journalists would write about it. News programs would cover the story. It would be a world-wide sensation.
But for the children of Israel, this was a normal event that occurred every morning. They slept during the night, and when they woke up, all they had to do was get up out of their tents, walk outside, and there were thousands of tons of manna waiting for them. This miracle was so regular that there was a whole generation who did not even know what life was like without manna.
Then there was the quail God sent to feed them. When they were tired of manna and wanted some meat, He sent a whole cloud of quail, filling the sky — some scholars estimate about 90 million birds. Psalm 78:28 says, “And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;” The Israelites didn’t even have to go out and get the meat — it came right to them, as much meat as they could eat!
Where did all these quail come from? How far did these birds have to travel to reach the children of Israel in the wilderness? It could not be naturally explained. It was a supernatural provision — just as supernatural as the manna.
When the Israelites needed water, God supernaturally provided once again. Do you know how much water it would take to support three million Jews in the wilderness plus all of their animals? Jewish scholars estimate about 70 million liters of water every day, just to meet their basic needs for existence. That’s 450 million liters in a week!
So the Lord told Moses in Exodus 17:6, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” So Moses obeyed, and when he struck the rock, it split open and water began to supernaturally flow out of it, and it continued to flow and flow and flow — providing all the water they needed for forty years.
So think about this — every morning, they had 4,500 tons of manna. When they cried out for meat, at least 90 million quail flew right to them and just fell at their feet. When they needed water, God provided a fountain from a rock — which is not a natural source of water — and it began pouring out 70 million liters of water every day!
The people were in a place that required them to depend on Him and test that He was who He said He was, and God, who is more than enough, proved Himself to them again and again. He showed up with supernatural provision every time.
How many of us would love to have that? So many times, we think, “If God was providing for me like that, then it would be so easy for me to trust Him. It would be so easy for me to have peace and believe in His promises.”
But that’s not always how we respond. In spite of all that God did, the Israelites gave Him back ungratefulness. Somewhere along the way, His supernatural power stopped inspiring awe in them and instead became routine.
Hebrews 3:8 references their backwards attitudes, saying, “Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” The word “harden” in the Greek is a medical term that describes an arm that has become stiff and is difficult to move as a result. It is the same word used in the Old and New Testaments to describe people that are stiff-necked or calloused.
Could it be possible that after the Israelites saw God perform so many wonderful works, they became numb to it? Did they become calloused to the goodness of God? Did this supernatural provision become so commonplace that it no longer made an impression on them? They just ate the manna and quail and never thought about where it came from. They drank and bathed and watered their animals — had all the water they needed — and forgot that it was a miracle.
They had all they could need every day. They knew, “We have it today, we’ll have it tomorrow, and we’ll have it next week. We’ll always have it,” but instead of that being a source of worship and a sign of how faithful and constant God is, it was just a boring, everyday occurrence for them!
Ask yourself, friend: Has God delivered you? Has He healed you? Has He rescued your family, given you a job, answered your prayers, or provided for you financially? Then why are you tempted to worry? Why are you tempted to question the faithfulness of God?
God has a record in your life, and it is called “faithfulness.” He has proved Himself again and again. He has repeatedly demonstrated that He is reliable, trustworthy, and true, and it is your job to turn around and remember all those things, because what God has done for us in the past is the foundation of what He’s going to do for us in the future.
So rather than fall into the trap of ingratitude like the children of Israel, make sure you count yourself among them that are grateful and thankful — that you trust that God is exactly who He declares Himself to be. God is good to you, and don’t ever let yourself forget it.
Start by just counting your blessings. As soon as you get done reading this article, just find a piece of paper and start writing them all down. You see, the flesh wants to count all the negative things. The flesh wants to say, “Oh, this situation is really bad. You’re really struggling. In fact, you’ve never had it worse than you have it right now.” But if you’ll stop and think about your life, you’ll probably find that it’s been a whole lot worse than it is right now, but you are still here. You still have clothes to wear. You are still eating. God’s been faithful. So just let yourself recognize that.
I want to give you a picture of what this looks like in my own life. Every morning, I get out of my bed, I walk into the room where I meet with the Lord, and the moment I sit down — it is automatic — thoughts of God’s goodness, of all the faithful people He’s put in my life, and of all the times that He has delivered me and been kind to me begin to flood my mind. When I open my Bible and begin to read about the man that is blessed of the Lord or protected of the Lord or has the favor of the Lord, I just write in the margin of my Bible, “That’s me, Rick Renner. That’s me.” I take in all of those promises and begin counting my blessings, and by the time that I’m finished, I’m weeping — really weeping — because I’m just so thankful.
Of course, I could just forget. I could start to take for granted the Lord’s goodness and just stop thinking about it until it doesn’t move me anymore, but I don’t want that to happen, so I have to make a decision that every day, I’m going to sit down in my chair, and I’m going to remember.
I want to encourage you to take an honest look at your heart. Does the faithfulness of the Lord still move you? When you are challenged in life, do you rush toward Him, confident that He will provide just as He’s done before, or do you find yourself fighting off fearful thoughts that He might not be faithful? Really ask yourself, “Is my heart still soft? Is it still thankful, or have I already become hard-hearted?”
When we think that God is not providing for us or that He’s just leaving us to figure it out on our own, we have to remember that we’re the ones who need to change, not Him. We’re the ones who forget and grow hard-hearted, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). The same God that gave thousands of tons of manna every day, the same God that sent millions of quail, the same God that provided millions of liters of water every day — that is still the same God we serve!