Picking up sticks in my yard seems to be a never ending job. With March winds blowing, the limbs and little branches just keep on falling. No matter how many I pick up, there are always more.

As I was picking up sticks the other day, I was reminded of how the children of Israel would go out each day to pick the manna. “And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it” (Numbers 11:9). “And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31). God miraculously fed his people with this marvelous food. It was to be picked up each morning, and lasted through the day, but would not last overnight, except for the Sabbath. When other food was available in the Promised Land, it ceased. “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Joshua 5:12).

What a blessing it was to Israel to be able to go out each day and get this life-sustaining food. And although they appreciated it, they also took it for granted from time to time. Moses explained why God gave them manna. “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

In John 6, Jesus compared Himself to that manna. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. ... Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:32-33, 47-51). Let us be sure that we never take for granted the blessing of our manna, Jesus Christ.