I remember a song from my childhood that was incredibly simple:

He’s all I need, He’s all I need,
Jesus is all I need.

That was about it. Nothing complicated. And perhaps that is why I remember it. A little boy knowing that God was my everything.

“The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.” (Exodus 16 v 35)

God knows what His people need, and He provides it.

Fancy eating the same thing for forty years?

That was Israel’s experience in the wilderness.

Every morning, except on the Sabbath, manna appeared on the ground. They didn’t even really know what to call it. When they saw it, they asked, “What is it?”—and the name manna is connected with that question.

It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t exciting. It was simply God’s provision.

And there was enough.

Those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered little did not have too little. God provided what was needed. He even instructed them to gather twice as much on the sixth day so they would have enough for the Sabbath.

For forty years, God faithfully provided for His people.

The wilderness was not their destination, but God did not take them through the wilderness without provision.

Eventually, the manna stopped. When Israel entered the Promised Land and began eating the produce of Canaan, the manna ceased.

But there is something deeper here for us.

Today, God’s provision is not manna.

His provision is Jesus.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35)

The manna sustained Israel in the wilderness for a season. Jesus sustains us for the whole journey.

Every morning, the answer is still Jesus.

Day after day, there is no need to search for another source. No need to look somewhere else for what will ultimately satisfy the soul.

He is enough.

He is the All-sufficient One.

There may be seasons when life feels like a wilderness. There may be days when we don’t understand what God is doing or where He is taking us. But we can trust this: God will never ask us to walk where His grace cannot sustain us.

Until we reach the Promised Land of heaven, Christ remains our bread, our strength and our life.

He’s all I need.

And He always will be.

Two things are needed in our lives. An awareness of what God wants from our lives and an acknowledgment of what God has done for us. 

“The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ” So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.” As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.” Exodus‬ ‭16‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ 

Manna didn’t last. That was the whole point, trust God for tomorrow. It was meant to teach a wilderness generation that provision comes from the hand of God, not from their own storehouses. Except.

Except for one omer. One jar, set apart, not to be eaten, but to be seen. Manna that didn’t rot, kept precisely so a people prone to forgetting would remember.

Every generation needs its equivalent of the jar of manna. Some tangible reminder that we did not get here by our own success.

The tablets of the law said what God required. The jar beside them said what God had already done. Law and grace, side by side in the same space. 

Six days of gathering manna had trained Israel to reach for what they needed each morning. So when the seventh day came, they just did the same as yesterday, even though they had been told to rest. The result was emptiness.

“Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will yourefuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day.” (Exodus 16 v 27-30)

Every morning, for six days, manna was there. On the seventh day there was none, ever. Yet there is always one, or in this case, some! The day before, the sixth day, they had a double portion which would last them into the seventh day. However, there they were again, looking for manna on the seventh day. They were not doubting God would provide. In doubting the request to stop on the seventh day, they chose not to believe in the importance of rest.

What I love is the preparation God makes on the sixth day. In effect, it was God saying:

I have already thought of tomorrow. You don’t have to.

The Sabbath was never a reward for finishing all the work (does it ever get finished?!) It was a gift so that we would believe that what God had given in the six days was enough for the seventh. So the people rested on the seventh day.

Eventually.

That rest was still there waiting for them when they finally stopped reaching for what they’d already been given.

Every generation must enter into the rest God has given. It is not only the Sabbath, and it is not just for one day. The manna-free day prophesies into our lives lived under the Lordship of Christ now, where there is no place for working for our salvation. This is what it means to have the Sabbath rest. We don’t work for our righteousness. And yet our enemy, ingrained in us, is the belief that God is not pleased with us, that He wants more from us.

There is nothing you can do to cause you to be saved, not one thing. It is total grace. Not one performance, not one sin-free day, not one commandment or act of purity or sacrificial giving. Nothing. Get rid of the whole notion.

Sit back, receive His presence, be thankful for His forgiveness, and be happy today. This matters enormously, because if we fail to enter that rest, where is there left to go? Everything hangs on this one thing: that our obedience is to enter into the finished work of Jesus.

This is incredible, but true. There is a day, every day, now, when you don’t need to look for provision. It has already been given.

On the sixth day, the manna doubles. No new instruction has come. The people simply gather twice as much and bring it to Moses, unsure what to make of it.

“On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”” (Exodus 16:22–26)

Only after the leaders report the double portion does Moses explain what God had planned all along: tomorrow is a Sabbath, a holy rest, and today’s extra gathering was preparation for it. Bake and boil whatever you want, and unlike every other day, save the rest until morning. What would have rotted on any other day stays fresh this time.

The instruction is simple: work today so that you can rest tomorrow.

Rest isn’t the absence of provision; it’s built into it. Today may have felt like double shifts. God may be preparing you, like Israel, for the rest that is yours to follow.

It’s a rest the writer of Hebrews later points back to, the same rest God entered on the seventh day of creation, still standing as a promise for those who trust Him rather than harden their hearts. Provision and rest were never in competition. Gather today. Rest tomorrow. That rhythm hasn’t changed.

Moses gave a simple instruction: gather today’s portion and leave nothing until morning. Some ignored it. What they hoarded turned rotten before their eyes.

“Then Moses said to them, ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning.’ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.” (Exodus 16:19–20)

What they tried to secure for tomorrow became a reminder that faith can only be renewed daily. God gives generously and lets it go just as freely, teaching a people to do the same. Whatever you’re hoarding out of fear of further provision, ask what it will look like by morning. God isn’t stingy with tomorrow. He’s just insistent that today’s trust cannot be kept for tomorrow.

Remember this: give us today our daily bread?

Jesus says the same thing:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

Hoarding manna and hoarding worry are the same. Both refuse to leave tomorrow in God’s hands. Both try to carry today what was only ever meant to be carried by grace, one day at a time.

God hasn’t promised to remove your uncertainty. He’s promised to be present inside it, today, and again tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

So don’t keep today’s manna till tomorrow. Don’t carry tomorrow’s trouble into today. Gather what you need, trust the One who sends it, and let the rest melt away in the sun because it was never yours to keep.

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

Open your hand. Let today be enough. And trust that when tomorrow comes, there will be manna for that day too.

We are chronic comparers. We measure everything against theirs, even if we don’t know anything about who ‘theirs’ is. Social media helps a lot. We read one post, and we compare their ministry against our influence. We hear a testimony, and we think about our prayers waiting to be answered. No one sees. It is our secret. Comparison sits with us throughout our lives, hand in hand with injustice. Someone always seems to gather more: more gifting, favour, visible fruit, or whatever we have decided matters this week. We can forget it works both ways. Somewhere, right now, someone is gathering less than you.

This comparison of measuring my basket against someone else’s is one of the oldest thefts in the human heart. It robs us of the gratitude for what’s actually in our hands.

In the miraculous provision from God of the manna and meat from heaven, it would seem He had this comparison problem in mind.

“That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: “Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.”‘ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.” (Exodus 16:13-18)

An omer is a Hebrew unit of dry measure — roughly one person’s daily food. God sent quail as meat and manna as bread, enough to blanket every tent in the camp.

Here’s what we need to take note of: the people go out and gather different amounts, some much, some little, yet when it’s measured, no one has too much, no one has too little. That doesn’t add up. But grace never does. God’s provision isn’t identical for everyone; it is sufficient for everyone. The one who gathered much gained nothing by it. The one who gathered little lost nothing by it.

So stop measuring your gathering against someone else’s. The miracle was never that everyone got the same amount but that everyone got exactly enough. What you’ve gathered today is your omer. Be thankful.

The Christian community in the UK and around the world are devastated today because of a tragedy at a festival that happened yesterday. One man has died, and 6 people are seriously injured.

https://bigchurchfestival.com/2026-public-statement

This morning I didn’t want to simply carry on with reading through Exodus. I needed to pause because on top of this horrible incident, I am totally shocked by the thousands of anti-Christian comments on social media that are mocking the incident. I read a few and couldn’t believe how people would take the opportunity to say such horrendous comments.

It’s one thing to grieve alongside a community in shock. It’s another to watch, in real time, people using someone else’s tragedy as an excuse to mock the faith of those grieving. But should any of us actually be surprised? Peter warned us this would happen. He gave this kind of person a name: scoffers.

Peter focuses on a group of people who have been ridiculing, in particular, the belief in the return of Christ. He calls them scoffers. Having reminded God’s people to hold on to the truth of what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament, the words of Jesus, and those of the apostles, he now focuses on addressing those who mock our faith.

“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3:3-7)

Here is what yesterday’s and this morning’s scroll through social media confirmed all over again.

1. Scoffers were always going to be here.

The last days will contain scoffers as well as the family of God. Since the ascension of Jesus Christ, the world moved into the last days. During this last 2,000 years, the ‘brothers and sisters’ (1:10) will exist alongside those who ridicule the faith, the ‘scoffers’. It was always going to be. Just because they exist and ridicule this belief doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is returning soon. The comments I read yesterday weren’t a new phenomenon — they were the oldest phenomenon in the book, playing out on a new platform.

2. Scoffers follow their own evil desires.

These are not just the last days, but they are days of evil. Not only do they scoff at the Coming King, but they also scoff by their behaviour at the Lordship of the King. Look around you and see what is happening to the Church. The scoffers, with their behaviour, scoff at the Lordship of Jesus, and they do it from within the Church.

3. Scoffers reject the promise.

They won’t accept the promise found in the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts or what the Apostles Paul, James, Peter and John confirm. They will turn their back on the Communion/Lord’s Supper that we regularly partake of until He comes, and they will reject the eternal promise which is in the heart of every born-again believer.

4. Scoffers say ‘there has been no change’.

They will rule out the divine intervention of God through Jesus Christ, and they will say God has not intervened since Creation, and He does not, and He will not bring any change to this world. A grieving festival crowd, praying for the injured, means nothing to a scoffer — because they’ve already decided nothing means anything.

5. Scoffers forget the story of Noah.

There were scoffers in Noah’s day and in Peter’s day, and so there is no surprise also in our day. Scoffers may talk of the love of God — “God loves everybody so live how you want.” But they deliberately forget. They choose to forget God’s judgment with the Flood. Ignore the Flood, and you don’t have to worry about future judgment nor any return of Jesus.

Yesterday a community lost one of its own and six more are fighting to recover. Today that same community is being mocked. It is grim, and the grief makes the mockery cut deeper, but it is not new, and it is not the last word.

The promise remains even if the foolish scoffers do.

Every believer knows the road from Elim to the Desert of Sin. It’s the ordinary wilderness in between, and it’s where most of us actually live. This passage doesn’t let us fake our way through that gap or write it off as spiritual dryness. It shows us how to walk it until glory shows up again.

“The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.” ⁹ Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Exodus 16 v 1-11)

Israel travels from Elim to the Desert of Sin. A name that makes us think of wrongdoing unsettles until you notice it isn’t about sin at all. It comes from Sinai. This is the road to the mountain, the desert that borders the place of God’s descent, where the commandments will be given. But that’s not yet. Right now, it’s just desert.

After the place of refreshment comes the place of tension. Elim had its palm trees and its springs. The Desert of Sin has neither. After God’s Spirit refreshes you, there’s always a time when the hallmarks of glory are nowhere in sight.

We tend to handle that tension one of two dishonest ways. Either we pretend — “glory is here,” when really we’ve found a stream, not the source. Or we go bone dry and fatalistic — nothing is happening, the church is dead, God has gone quiet. Both postures are really the same move: pretending we’ve arrived when we haven’t.

Israel does something different; they rewrite their own history. “We sat around pots of meat” — as slaves! That’s what an empty stomach does to memory.

Moses’ answer is still relevant for us today.

First: we are not God (v7, 9). “Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Grumbling always aims higher than its target. It looks like a complaint about circumstances, but it’s about a person who has more authority than a created being.

Second: don’t deceive yourselves about what you once had (v3). Egypt was not a banquet. Nostalgia for bondage is still bondage.

Third: God can outgive what the world offers (v8). They had meat in the evening, bread in the morning, more than Egypt ever set on the table.

God doesn’t correct the grumbling before He feeds the grumblers. Verse 4 comes first: “I will rain down bread from heaven.” Grace trumps repentance. Then, verse 10: “the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.” Glory interrupts the grumbling. It doesn’t wait for it to stop.

If you’re in the Desert of Sin, provision behind you, Sinai not yet in view, then don’t fake the glory but don’t declare it absent either.

Gather what today requires, and let God prove, again, that He can outgive any Egypt.

There’s an incredible poster of Taylor Knox, a surfer, in front of a huge wave — over fifty feet high — at Todos Santos, Mexico. Underneath are the words: “What if your fears and dreams existed in the same place?”

“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” (Exodus 15:27)

After Marah’s bitterness, Elim looks like the perfect place to finally stop. And for a while, they do. Twelve springs, seventy palms, it tells us this really was a good place. But Elim was never the destination; it was provision for the next leg of the journey. We tend to camp at our Elim’s, to settle where God only meant us to be refreshed.

The enemy’s best plot against you is not bigger than God’s purpose for you. Whatever you may be going through today could be described as a desert, a trial, and it can even feel impossible. But the truth is the truth even when you have reached your very end.

Notice what happens at Elim: the supernatural provision of manna doesn’t come until after they leave. At Elim they were still living off what they’d carried out of Egypt. Only once they moved did the miracle come. Will you do it again, Lord? There is more when you move.

But moving is rarely the hard part logistically; it’s the hard part in us. Rob Parsons, in his book Let Me Tell You a Story, describes watching a camel owner offering rides to tourists in the Middle East. Among the crowd was a boy no older than five, watching wide-eyed as his older sister was lifted onto the camel’s back. He ran alongside, laughing, captivated, right up until the camel turned around and he realised it was his turn next. He bolted back behind his father, and no amount of coaxing from either his dad or the camel owner could get him near the animal. Eventually his father gave up, paid for his daughter’s ride, and led both children away. Ten metres down the street, the boy stopped, turned, and looked back at the camel one last time before walking on. That look said what he couldn’t: I desperately want to try… but I just can’t.

It’s a look Parsons says he’s seen in adults too, not just children, even his own reflection included. A look that glances at an opportunity, imagines what could be, but stays paralysed by fear.

Whatever Elim you’ve camped at, don’t mistake the resting place for the finish line. God isn’t finished with you yet.

The sea is barely dry behind them, and already Israel is walking into the Desert of Shur. An enclosure they cannot break through on their own. Three days, no water. You can almost hear their thoughts, “You won’t make it. You don’t have what it takes.”

“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” ²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” ²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” (Exodus 15 v 22-27)

After God makes a way where there was no way, He takes them into a similar experience. The Desert of Shur means a ‘fortress wall’. An enclosure that they were not going to get through.

They couldn’t find water. Sometimes we know the experience, which is like a voice saying, ‘You won’t make it’.

It was for 3 days. Again, we can easily hear, “You don’t have the strength.”

They had a bitter experience. We all know that experience: it’s disappointing; we expected far more than we got.

• V25 Testing is part of life with God.  Deuteronomy 8 v 2 “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Are you committed to the Lord? Are you going to turn back? How do you know? The testing is the way.
• V25 God wants to show you things. Ultimately that you can turn bitterness into sweetness and a dead opportunity into one full of life.
• V26 God wants to reveal you to the world. To show others how He deals with you. The Lord tells Moses He does not want to deal with His people the way He dealt with the Egyptians.

Every Marah you walk through is on its way to an Elim you haven’t seen yet. But can you trust the Lord?