Wonder Bread (God’s Other Manna)

Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us... the Lord is with us. Numbers 14:9

Why haven’t you sponsored a Compassion child?

I don’t really want to know the reason; I just want you to think about it. I don’t desire to belittle or diminish the magnitude of your reason, but in actuality I want to be in agreement with you as to its size and scope. In fact, I am just going to go ahead and say it, “Your reason is justifiably huge!”

That reminds me of the verse above.

Caleb and Joshua, and ten other spies had just returned from spying out the Promised Land and returned with the report. “While it truly flows with milk and honey, there is a gigantic problem,” ten of them would say (paraphrase mine). There were in fact giant-defenders in the land and these guys were scared stiff.

Notice that Caleb did not deny the report, nor did he attempt to diminish the problem, but merely said that these problems were as, “bread for us.” In other words, Caleb looked at these giants and saw them not as obstacles, but as nourishment—just as bread nourishes the body, so would these giants promote our growth. Caleb further understood that the Lord who brought them to this place of growth and decision would also provide for their needs.

Let’s return to our problem.

Yes--we agree it’s big, but can we also agree that the God who brought us here is bigger? Let’s be honest, if poverty were an easy thing to overcome there wouldn’t be any such thing. But you have been given a vision of one child; a child free from the bonds of physical and spiritual poverty. As the giant emerges, will you shrink away, or will you say as Caleb said, that he is as, “bread for us.”

The body of Christ is nourished as we overcome giants. If God has brought you to it, He will see you through it.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13