I tell the story often. God’s kids hungry and whiny on the long road trip from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. God pulls over the minivan and has a word with them through Moses.
“Tell the people I will rain down bread from heaven for them,” God says. “Each day they are to go out and gather enough for that day.” (Exodus 16:4)
God is good. But God’s goodness can bring out the worst in us. So with provision God gave law – the first law over His children this side of Egypt – predating the ten commandments, Leviticus, Deuteronomy… And the first law is about bread?
Take only your daily bread. One omer – about two liters – God says. Two liters for every person in your house. “This is a test,” God says.
And for a while God’s kids obeyed.
But one day – and I’m using my imagination here, which I realize is dangerous in some company – someone arrived to breakfast early perhaps. He walked out of his tent one morning and before him, as far as he could see, were delicious “what is its.” (Bread from heaven was so good they named it with a question in Hebrew – “manna”.)
Maybe this is how it happened. After collecting bread for the day he then stuffed extra into the pockets of his toga to put away in his 401K…I mean, refrigerator. In case God ever stopped being good. In case God broke His promise to provide bread for each day as each day arrives.
In anger God turned the leftovers into maggots and the excess began to stink. Unsatisfying.
After this God’s children obeyed the daily bread law. And it says in Exodus 16 that those who gathered much (because they had much family) did not have too much. And those who gathered little (because they had little family) did not have too little. But everyone had enough. (Exodus 16:17-18)
All of us are breaking obscure Old Testament laws. All guys, except lumberjacks and hipsters, shave these days. And who wears an outfit made from only one kind of fabric? We don’t live by Old Testament law here on the other side of Calvary. Though I do sometimes wish I could put my wife in a tent in the backyard for a few days every month.
The apostle Paul believed the daily bread law – no matter how impractical and ancient and strange – was still in affect for New Testament Christians like me. He made a habit of asking the churches he planted to give him their leftovers so that he could share them with impoverished Christians living in Jerusalem – 80% of them lacking daily bread.
When collecting leftovers from Christians in Corinth he wrote:
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: βThe one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.β – 2 Corinthians 8:13-15
What God wants is equality. And just in case anyone wants to bicker over exactly what he means by this, well, Paul defines the word clearly. By quoting Exodus 16. “Equality,” Paul says, means that no one has too much and no one has too little. But everyone has bread enough for today.
In one small paragraph the apostle Paul plucks a bizarre obscure law about bread from the pages of antiquity and places it solidly on the other side of Calvary before us moderns and says, “Take only your daily bread. This is a test.”
And so, I’ve said from so many stages, the test is this: Are daily bread and God enough for me?
If He is all I need then I can give up anything He wants to give someone else all they need.
I’ve said this a few hundred times.
And then I made a CD and sank every penny you gave and I had into its production, duplication, distribution and promotion. And then the adoption agency called and we added one more to our family unexpectedly. And I took a month off without income to help him adjust. And then there were doctor visits and blood tests. And a broken guitar. And the usual bills to pay. And a car to pass inspection. And…
82 cents. At the end of the month we had 82 cents.
Now it’s September and we’ve tallied what’s ahead – what’s coming in and what must go out and…a check arrives for what’s needed this week. “Daily bread,” I said when Becky opened it. “God is so laughing right now,” she said.
And next week? Well, I don’t know. And I’ve not lived an I don’t know kind of life for a few years now. Well, not like this. (You’re there too aren’t you?) This is the test. Can I live what I sing and say? Is having God and just enough…enough?
Ericaj says:
I really appreciated your video for Kelly’s blog and what you had to say about this same thing and your experience with that pastor praying for their daily bread. It is a reminder that we Americans (at least me) need to hear.
Kristin Smith says:
Beautiful message…and I laughed outloud when I read ” Though I do sometimes wish I could put my wife in a tent in the backyard for a few days every month.”…Becky would probably go willingly some days right?! π
Thank you for your example!!
Blessings, Kristin
Jen Guarino says:
Living with just enough is what God has tested us with for a few years now. We are finally learning to be satisfied with what we have and not wishing for more. It has grown our faith by 10 fold..or 100 fold….maybe even a 1000 fold. Daily Bread has a special meaning to me so thank you for your post today. I received a $10 gift card for iTunes and will be using it to purchase the new album! I cannot wait to listen to it in full.
Jason says:
I know I shouldn’t have laughed at the tent reference if I want to not stay on the couch tonight but I did. π
Great post, Shaun. A good reminder.
Amy D. says:
I like it when you talk bread. π it’s always eye opening.
I struggle most with people who say “you’re not taking enough! You need more!”, then there is that other camp of people who think I have too much and don’t give enough.
Heather Roemer says:
Awesome I love this ! Blessings to you & yours
Heather
carrie says:
Shaun,
Thanks for this reminder. Joe and I have lived it too, more often than our “comfortable American ideal” brains would like. Too many people don’t give God the opportunity to really provide for their needs and miss out on some of the purest fellowship with him because of it.
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
“Rain more than this dayβs bread
And I may say Iβm God instead
Take all my crumbs away
And I may rob and wound your name”
These words hit me every time I listen to the album.
Things are crazy, crazy tight for us. As each day passes, I worry a bit more but always am mindful that we have a house that doesn’t leak and beds to sleep in. I may have to get creative in the kitchen, but we have ingredients to fiddle with. We are blessed and I have faith that we will get through.
So, I relate to the lyrics of the song (and just about every song on the album.)
Happy to be able to buy the CD, even if I did squeeze in on the one day half off sale. π
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
Funny enough, I just realized what is baking in my oven right now. Yup, our daily bread which will go nicely with some butter and strawberry rhubarb jam that was given to us by some people cleaning out their cottage before winterizing.
He provides. He IS providing.
Amy says:
Some of our best meals and creativity show up when we are just “getting by”. I even figured out how to make our own taco seasoning last night. (I could afford it, I just didn’t want to go to the store again!)
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
Yep, I made “enchilada sauce” by using some leftover tomato soup with a dash of hot sauce. Creativity for the win!
(The bread was *awesome* by the way!)
Brad says:
Tough subject nicely handled. Thanks Shaun.
Ashley N says:
This made me think of the lyrics to a song I’ve had on heavy repeat this week (since receiving my signed CD last week)…perhaps you’ve heard it?
“Please, donβt give to me
Wealth or poverty
But God, I ask only for Enough
Oh Enough
God, only
Just enough”
I love this post and this song. We have been in a “when it rains it pours” season at my house, but God is providing…just enough. He will for you too.
Marina says:
One of my most favourite songs. Thank you for the reminder!
JessicaB says:
Funnily, my post tomorrow is about daily bread, sort of. We’ve been unemployed again this summer, and without the generous donation from a reader/friend of my blog, we would have had a negative amount of dollars in the band this last week.
Trying to trust, resisting the worry.
JessicaB says:
Snicker.
BANK.
Yvonne says:
Thanks for sharing this. We had an instance in our family recently with a car situation. When my husband started looking for the replacement part, it was going to cost over $300. Well, my brother-in-law was able to get the part for $75. We had $85 in cash up in the bill area waiting to go back into the checking account. God’s timing and provision is always amazing!
Melissa Jones says:
I remember one time in our small group, one of the other couples had gotten some money unexpectedly and were trying to figure out what to do with it – should they add it to the 401k? Should they donate part of it? Tithe? What should they do? What would be the “good steward’s” answer?
The only thing that came to my mind in response was “Give us THIS day our daily bread” (a phrase which has become more poignant to me as I’ve tried to make our bread instead of buying it from a store). I don’t know what they did with the money, but I think they really heard what I was trying to say.
Now to just live that myself! How hard it is sometimes when the “normal” thing to do is such a far cry from the Biblical thing!
Thanks for sharing! We’re pretty close to that right now ourselves, but so far we’ve always had enough for today. For this month. For right now. Now to practice contentment and trust!
I really pray that this will be a time in our lives when our family can “raise an Ebenezer” and always be able to look back and remember that “hither by Thine help I’m come.”
Kelli says:
Your posts have the very unique ability of getting inside my heart and twisting things around. You gotta stop doing that.
Or…
On second thought, it’s probably best that you don’t stop.
Christine says:
Wonderful, honest post.
Underemployment, when it goes on long enough, strips away everything extra, leaving old cars needing constant repair…a house in disrepair because to repair it right is too expensive…praying for manna from heaven for smog repair money so the van can get registered again and we can take our kids out of the house….wondering what would happen if someone gets cancer without health insurance, etc.
God is enough and daily bread is enough. But not automatically. It takes a decision on our part for it to be enough. The world around us, in America, says it’s not enough and we can’t avoid that world entirely. The way they live and the way we live are so remarkably different, it’s constantly there before us.
What helps is to write to and love Compassion correspondent kids who have it far worse and deal with heartbreaking physical discomforts daily. When I am fed up with broken things around the house and constant car repairs and saying no to everything the kids ask for, I only have to look at a picture of a Compassion child, and I am shamed on the spot. Compassion kids need our letters, prayers, and love, but we need them as much or more, to remind us that God can be enough.
Giving thanks and seeing blessing and grace all around is a choice. Filling up with God and with His Word is a choice. The minute we compare what we have with what we could have, it’s like Peter walking on water and suddenly falling in.
Staying on top of the water takes a lot of practice, but there are untold blessings from having to make God enough.
Preaching to myself here, not to you, BTW.
Just really loved this post!
rebecca says:
provoking post – humbling, convicting, encouraging, hopeful – thank you for sharing
and for the record, as a wife and mother, there are many, many months I would love to go live in a tent in the backyard for a few days – now that was a good one – all the way around π
Shaun Groves says:
Becky simply asks that the kids stay in the house. And that the tent be in a hotel with room service.
Melissa Jones says:
I wanna live in _that_ kind of a tent!
Shelley Rio says:
Thanks! Needed that today… and everyday π
Mela Kamin says:
We are definitely being “tested” in this area, with my son’s mounting medical bills on the horizon and the usual ebbs & flows of owning a business, and a ministry and raising three kids. The hardest part of the test for me is sitting surrounded by things we could’ve done without & knowing if we had, we wouldn’t be worried about the next expense. But, as my kids’ school adopted as their theme “Prayer Changes Things” from Phil 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer & petition present your requests to God.” God will and does provide – even if right now, it’s manifested as my Mom staying with us & cooking up the best meals, friends offering hugs & prayers and my husband’s schedule being light enough to allow him time off for surgeries & doc appts.
Really enjoying your album, by the way – it’s provided a soothing, perspective-shifting soundtrack to our hectic days.
sarah says:
Wow, what a song! I remember watching a youtube clip by Francis Chan a while ago daring people to pray that verse for themselves and being really challenged myself about it. There’s something so liberating about just living hand-to-mouth. Simple and more meaningful somehow. Thanks for a very special song.
Katie says:
I just graduated college and don’t have a job. Yesterday I was playing with the bank account… I have 82 cents plus a dollar. Just enough for bread.
Katie
Becky says:
I luuuuuuuuuv this post.
Rebecca says:
You’re right. I’m there too. Boy did I need this post. (Will be re-reading often the next few months I think!) Thanks Shaun.
Marian Green says:
You probably don’t have time to read this…but just in case you do, would you?
http://bit.ly/qhE1zp
This question has been hounding me for over a year. We brought our daughter home from Ethiopia and were broke…but this miraculous thing called a tax credit was coming back and when the check came, my heart sunk.
I understand His daily bread when it’s all I have. And then the manna rains down…and I have so much more at my finger tips.
I want to live in that sweet dependency on God. But I keep forgetting how to let go.
And when the hard months come, everything in me wants to make sure God knows my address just in case He needs to send that daily bread, right…
Marian Green says:
Oooh, I forgot: the question that hounds me? Your post echoed it again.
Is this the kingdom of God? This letting go?
I know the answer.
But it’s the repetition of having to remember it.
The letting go seems like a spiritual discipline, like prayer, is it?
That’s a yes, too. Isn’t it. π
CariK says:
Shaun,
when you answered my questions about your favorite Bible passage with Proverbs 30:7-9 and the explanation, I was blown away….I am equally blown away by this post.
I needed this post desperately today…so in God’s awesome, funny way, you were His provision this day. Thanks for sharing the hard questions you face when trying to live your life authentically. It’s not easy to ask these questions of ourselves, let alone do so in a way that brings others into the asking. I’m glad you did.
I’ll be praying for you…His grace and peace to you…today.
Amy Lynne says:
God is funny…I just got an email today about praying for enough and now your post. I think someone is trying to tell me something. We have enough and we will continue to have enough in our home. That faith is a wonderful feeling! Thanks for the beautiful song!
Melissa says:
You are a brave man with the red tent reference π I just wrote an eBook on this very thing, this dependence on God and that being His design for how we handle our resources. Praying for your family, knowing that He has it all under control!
Liz Reeves says:
Been there, done that, still living it myself. I loved reading your post & hearing your honesty, Shaun. It reminded me GREATLY of this post I wrote last February (2010): http://liz-ourblessedfamily.blogspot.com/2010/02/do-you-trust-me.html
sara varghese says:
I actually have come full circle with that….not at my choosing, necessarily.
I was kicked out of my house for wanting to finish Bible school back in the day (my parents are not believers, but we’re working on them). When I found out, my friend called and supplied a bus ticket to see her at her wedding. So, I had one suitcase, my guitar (Gertie), and a backpack, and got on the bus without a fairwell, to try to get back to school with 200 clams in my pocket. (I lived in CA, my friend was in Ohio, school was in WI). Ok, Lord.
Anyway, long story, longer. With the Lord’s provision I finally got to school, found a job, a car for 200 dollars (clams), and a place to live for 2 months free rent (thank you Merle Nelson). My parents eventually started talking to me again, but there were times I wasn’t sure how I was going to fill the tank of the beast and I would find 5 dollars in my pocket. Cool, now I could get home.
Fast forward to today. I married someone who doesn’t know about how living totally dependent on the Lord feels, but God is teaching him. I have to watch my pride and my frustration because I already know how sweet it can be to give it all up and walk by faith (not by sight).
So, my meals, clothes, insurance, gasoline, are all frustratingly accessible. God knows. He is teaching me a different kind of dependence, because that’s just the way He rolls. Love Him.
Liz Reeves says:
Sara, I don’t know you but I love you already! Your story is awesome! PTL!
sara varghese says:
Indeed! PTL π
Barb Morden says:
This is so true, is God enough. I am struggling with that question right now in my life. Good, thoughtful post
Shaun Groves says:
I think we always will.
Matt McNutt says:
Great post Shaun, and again “Enough” is probably my favorite on the new album. I remember you speaking on the “what is its” here in Missoula. It made Sara and I joyfully want to sponser another compassion child, and provide daily bread for more kids.
Joy says:
Can I just say I laughed my head off about the sending your wife into a tent once a month. Primarily because when I first learn about that particular custom I thought OMG that is the BEST IDEA EVER!
I would love to be allowed the privilege to be sent to a tent to be alone and sleep all day for that week π
Shaun Groves says:
Except that you’re stuck in that tent with a bunch of other potentially, um, less-than-happy women ; )
Joy says:
and i also appreciated the real message of the post. My first part-time paycheck arrived today and all my anxieties resurfaced again. Trying so hard to trust that God was in this decision and he will provide. Your perspective was very helpful in my process toward faith.
Charity says:
Hi there, I don’t comment often but I do read faithfully. I just wanted to say thank you for the CD- it arrived today- thanks for mailing it all the way to Wales! π I’m private on Twitter so I couldn’t message you, but I would have I could! I’m sorry you had to pay extra postage to get it to me- I’ll make it to you by blogging about your new CD. π Blessings!
Kelly @ Love Well says:
This is powerful stuff, Shaun. Testify. You testify of what God has shown you — and you pass it on to us. Seed to sow.
“Enough” is my favorite song on the CD too.
Melissa Eitniear says:
Thank you! I just found your blog this morning and it is a confirmation message to me from God. For the third time now in 24 hours I have received the same message in three very different ways.
JR says:
I have re-written this several times, mainly because it infuriates me. I should preface this by saying that those spiritual gift assessments (for what they’re worth) tend to score me somewhat highly in terms of being gifted at financial giving. I tend to disagree with that assessment, but whatever. I probably don’t have the most balanced opinions about this kind of thing.
I saw a well-respected financial ministry recommend spending 35-40% of your budget on housing costs and 10% on total charitable giving (church gift/tithe+other giving). What I wanted to say (without succumbing to the multiple rants that I’ve already written and deleted) is, “That is absurd!” I really don’t know a nicer way to put it.
I’m so tempted to put in a bunch of statistics to back up that statement, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll share this:
You can chose a new definition of luxury–which in and of itself is a luxury–that choice. Luxury doesn’t have to mean trinkets and do-dads and gadgets and more square-footage. Luxury can mean having enough: enough to share with Jennifer and Nupor so that they have enough–just enough, enough to share with a friend in Canada so that they can share God’s healing in broken relationships, enough to share with the Bible college in Central Asia so that they can be trained to share the Good News with their own people, enough to share with friends living in an Indian slum so that they can share God’s love and their few belongings with their neighbors. Luxury can mean having enough and giving the rest away.
Elaine says:
Amen, to this post! The philosophy of giving from an abundance is so prevalent in the Christian community. Francis Chan speaks out against this, as does Tim Keller. As TK explains, the gospel calls for sacrificial giving: it did for Christ. How can we as His followers say we can’t give because we don’t have enough, when Jesus gave everything?
JR says:
PS that 35-40% was recommended for single people living alone. I know that families have different needs.
Susan says:
reminds me of our verse yesterday in Sunday school…
Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such thing as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5
Brenda says:
I love your perspective. This post means so much to the season in which I find myself. God is sufficient and in His sufficiency I find abundance.