WHY GOD LETS US HUNGER Sara Heitmann for Core Christianity
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.”
Why does God let his people hunger? This doesn’t just mean physical hunger for bread. It can be the lack of any good thing. This lack can tempt us to question God’s goodness. In my case, I’ve ached for close friendship that was often elusive. There were times when I feared God was being stingy.
The Israelites grumbled against God when they got hungry, just like we do (Ex. 16:2–3). In spite of their rebellion, however, God gave them manna. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses recounted to Israel their time in the wilderness and explained this was a test they were to remember when they came into the land of abundance (Deut. 8:2, 6–10). There are a few things we can learn from Moses’ explanation.
1. The Israelites hungered.
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This may seem obvious, but it’s important to note that God was not telling the Israelites that food was bad or denying that they’d feel hungry without it. God himself provides us with food to sustain our life, and he gives us every other good created thing as well, including the capacity to draw near to one another. Feeling this lack is not wrong, but honors the goodness of God’s gifts.
2. Man lives by the word of God.
If food was good and necessary, why did God take it away? By letting them hunger and then feeding them in an extraordinary way, God showed that he was their ultimate source of life. They were dependent upon him. God’s provision in this case was so strange that when the Israelites first saw it, they asked each other, �What is it?�(Ex. 16:15).
This was to show that �man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD�(Deut. 8:3). Although God has arranged things so that bread typically sustains our physical life, we’re prone to forget that every life-giving power in creation is borrowed from the original life-giving power of the word of the Creator. �Beware,�Moses warned the Israelites, �lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’�(Deut. 8:17). Good things become a problem for us when we leave God out of the picture and think we have the power to acquire true life for ourselves. This test was a reminder to the Israelites that the Creator gives life, whether through bread or through this odd flaky stuff they called manna.
