Day 12

No sugar or dairy

I’m a planner! Before I go grocery shopping, I like to plan a-weeks-worth of menus. I have even “tried-out” the monthly preparation. But I have never anticipated planning and shopping day by day.

While wondering through the wilderness, the Israelites were instructed to shop daily. The Lord provided but they had to do the gathering. And if they gathered more than was allotted for a day, it spoiled.

The Lord tells us, His Church, to gather day by day! “give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). Why would the Lord want us to ask every day for something He already knows we need?

Joni, in her devotional, A Spectacle of Glory, says,

God knows us better than we know ourselves. He has determined [that] we should . . . recognize our daily—even hourly—dependence on Him. That way, we will have to go often to His throne for help. We will be daily reminded that we are needy and that He provides. That we are weak, and He is strong. That we are nothing without Him and have everything through Him. . .. “each morning [the Israelites] gathered as much manna as they needed” (Exodus 16:21). A day’s supply awaited them. But they had to get up in the morning and gather it in!

Joni concludes with this prayer:

Lord, how foolish of me to imagine I can slip into cruise control and get by without coming into Your presence. I need fresh manna from heaven. I need a fresh filling of Your Spirit. I need a new set of directions from Your Word. I need a renewed sense that You are with me today, this moment, right now.

It sure is easy to slip into cruise control and neglect entering the Throne Room of Grace until I have something so heavy it pushes me through the door. My dependence is on Him, day by day, as I seek a healthier menu and gather all I can from His storehouse of wisdom and knowledge.

Are you going often to His Throne?