The human being’s greatest challenge is not scarcity, but an uncontrollable drive for control and accumulation. In this week’s biblical account, the Yehovah our Creator uses manna not merely as sustenance, but as a rigorous spiritual training in daily dependence. The instruction was precise: gather only the portion needed for that day. Violating this command—giving in to the ambition to hoard—resulted in decay. The message is clear, though uncomfortable for our ego: our nature was not designed to build security through accumulation, but through trust in the Provider.
The Hebrew word man (“What is this?”), from which manna derives, captures the sense of astonishment. The people could not grasp Yehovah’s logic, because it stood in sharp contrast to the Egyptian mindset of foresight, storage, and absolute control. That mindset persists today. We are absorbed in creating reserves, fail-safe plans, insurance policies, and structures that promise stability—while pushing the Creator out of the center of our faith. Planning is not the error; the danger lies in replacing faith with purely human systems and schemes.
Manna fell every morning, a tangible demonstration that Yehováh’s provision was for the present, dispelling anxiety about the future. Yet modern culture demands long-term guarantees, total certainty, and mastery over tomorrow. Daily dependence is offensive to pride, because it demands humility—the recognition of our absolute lack of self-sufficiency.
Even Shabbat reinforced this truth, with a double portion provided the day before, making it unnecessary to go out and gather manna on that day. This was no coincidence, but an act of obedience. The contemporary error is equating security with independence from Yehovah. The result is a society that is materially prosperous, yet exhausted, anxious, and spiritually malnourished.
This passage forces us to confront a truth often forgotten: divine provision is unavoidably a daily relationship. Manna was not given to make the people of Israel comfortable, but to shape trust in Yehováh.
Humanity must return to daily dependence on its Creator, for otherwise, in trying to control everything, it paradoxically ends up losing everything. Trust is not a sign of weakness; it is a reaffirmation of the original design of the Most High, who faithfully provides every morning.
Shalom!
Daily dependence on Yehováh is uncomfortable for our ego, because it demands humility and the recognition of our absolute inability to be fully self-sufficient.