Being Satisfied with God’s Manna

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Numbers 11:4-6

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said:"Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"

NKJV

Imagine if during the time of the Exodus the people had smart phones and the ability to post videos on You Tube.  Imagine how many hits videos of manna forming on the desert floor would have had.  I imagine many would have said the video was a hoax or photo shopped.  Others would have attributed the phenomenon to some paranormal activity or some supernatural event.  Although not untrue, we would be left to wonder if they would have attributed the event to God. 

Some with political agendas might have attempted to attribute this event to some government food program that they, of course, were instrumental in implementing.  Still others might have attributed this event to some governmental conspiracy to make people dependent on manna for food and not their own efforts.  Others might have complained that the manna was insufficient to meet their needs and demanded more.  Oh wait that did happen and had dire consequences (Numbers 11:1-15).   

In John 6:35 Jesus declared that He is the bread of life.  In John 6:32-33 Jesus teaches that the manna from Heaven that fed the People of Israel for forty years in the wilderness was symbolic of the bread from heaven that gives life to the world.  In declaring that He was the bread of life, Jesus was declaring he is the one symbolized by the manna.

Jesus is all that we need in our lives but since we live in a world filled with temptation, we are continually tempted, as the People of Israel were, to return to what we enjoyed prior to accepting Jesus as our Savior.  We must remember that temptation is not sin for even Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11).  It is only when we give in to these temptations that we sin.  Even the Apostle Paul dealt with this struggle and wrote about it in Romans7:13-25. 

It is another election year and after numerous debates and endless caucuses and primaries, the two major party nominees are emerging.  Much as I as an evangelical conservative would have preferred to have one of these nominees be a staunch evangelical conservative, that is most likely not going to occur.  Similar to the struggle we all have with the flesh in our lives, this lack of a viable evangelical candidate leaves us as Christians with some uncomfortable choices this election.  Do we,

1)      Stay home this election believing that our absence will somehow send a resounding message to the nation about its need to return to God.  Many did this in the previous two presidential elections and the result was eight years of ultra-liberal policies and programs like Obamacare and the degradation of culture to where one of the hottest news items today is what bathroom should one use.  In my opinion, just staying home only served to accelerate the nation down the road to socialism and a culture that would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush. 

2)      Hold our nose and vote for the lesser of two evils.  I have voted in every presidential election since 1976.  Unfortunately, in only two of those elections, 1980 and 1984, did I have the choice of a true conservative.  However, I have voted in each of these elections, voting for the least liberal of the candidates, or the lesser of two evils.  Some reading this may accuse me of violating my godly principles by doing this but my reason is simple, to slow the slide of the nation down the slippery slope of darkness, something that has accelerated over the last eight years.  By slowing this slide into darkness, we are providing ourselves an opportunity to spread the Gospel for as we are beginning to witness, the secular society has an agenda to silence anyone daring to spread the Gospel. 

3)      Vote for a third party or write in a true conservative.  While this may allow us to vote with a clear conscious, it has the same effect as staying home, allowing the greater of two evils, and not the lesser of two evils to win. 

Much as I as an evangelical conservatives would have preferred to have a meaty conservative in the ballot with a chance of winning the election, God has provided us with the choice of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  Much as we may dislike it, these two choices are the choices God has given us.  I personally do not believe God wants his people to stay home or waste their vote on a losing third party candidate and instead wants us to engage in this election. 

I therefore plan to vote, with a clear conscious, for the Donald Trump in November.  While he may not be a staunch conservative, he has stated his desire to protect the religious liberties of Christians, something many liberals like Hillary Clinton are attacking with their support of abortion, gay marriage, and even bathroom policies.  Donald Trump is a dealmaker and as such, someone I believe will stick to his word to protect religious liberty when reminded of it by Evangelical Conservatives. 

Better to deal with the dealmaker than the sure continued slide back into the Egyptian slavery of liberalism guaranteed with a Hillary Clinton administration.