Listen

In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was.

Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

Exodus 16:13–15

Think

I don’t know how – or even if – the Israelites expected God to provide meat and bread, but I doubt it was this way. A blanket of quail in the desert must have been quite a surprise, and when they saw the original “frosted flakes,” they called the miraculous bread, “What is it?” (that’s what manna means), and the name stuck.

Throughout the pages of Scripture, God fulfills promises in unexpected ways. Quail in the desert. Bread in the dew. A boy in a manger, victory through a cross, and life from a tomb. God is in the business of doing just as God has promised but in ways that no one would anticipate.

How has God worked in surprising ways in your life? What has God provided to which you could only answer, “What?”

Joshua Hays

Pray

God of surprises, thank you for your life-sustaining gifts in unexpected, even unrecognizable packages! Your creativity brings me joy and wonder. Help me to use these gifts in creative ways to bless others as your hands, feet, and voice in the world. Amen.

Go

God has the power to provide you with more than enough of every kind of grace. That way, you will have everything you need always and in everything to provide more than enough for every kind of good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8