So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
First of all, God responds with, “I have heard the complaints…” He hears us. Sometimes that’s all we need, to know that God is listening intently to our cries. He hears you. As a matter of fact, He’s right there listening before you even cry out. But it’s important for us to not get consumed by our own complaints. Be honest with God about how you feel, and then release the frustrations and let Him take care of it. Moses and Aaron asked the people, “Who are we that that you complain against us?” When you have a problem, go to the One who has the solution. God has the answer to every problem that we could ever encounter. Now, let’s be clear, we all need moments to vent, but when you really need help in an area, be careful where you go for godly wisdom. Otherwise the venting really just becomes complaining.
Instead of focusing on what is not right and what you don’t have, look at what is right and what you do have and the many ways God is blessing you each and every day.
And in the text, notice that God was very specific in how He was going to move. He told them, “I will send meat in the evening and you will be filled with bread in the morning.” It’s interesting to me that they recognized that the quails were the meat that God had sent, but they didn’t recognize the bread he had sent; even though God had told them what He was going to send. You know why? They had never seen it like that before. They had seen quails before, but the manna came right from heaven. The word manna literally means, “What is it?” They had never seen mannabefore that day. Because they hadn’t seen it before, they didn’t recognize the blessing that God had sent just for them. They just didn’t recognize it. How many times has God moved on your behalf and you didn’t recognize it because it came in a way that you had never experienced before?
And why manna? I looked up a few definitions of manna.
The Manna Chef 