Observation: This is part of a historical psalm, which retells events told elsewhere in the Old Testament. This section tells about how God provided manna, "the bread of Angels", for the recently liberated people of Israel to eat in the dessert. An ongoing theme in the wilderness (like any family road trip, I'd say) is that God continues to provide and people continue to complain.
Application: Maybe it's human nature, but in a situation over which I have little direct control, I tend to get fussy. I get vocal about what's getting on my nerves. I tend to focus on what's going wrong instead of what's going right. I'm not proud of it. I would like to be different. But I often find myself fighting the urge to complain.
What's amazing to me is that God keeps right on doing good things in my life, whether I complain or I give thanks. Just like manna in the wilderness, God's blessings are abundant every day. Every day this month, I'm trying to lift up three different things I'm thankful for. I've done this before, and it really does a lot to change your perception of what life is like.
Another benefit of finding things to be thankful for is it helps you shift the stage of your life, and invite God into a more significant role. I've noticed that God will provide for me all the time, but I have a choice: I can ignore it, and treat God like a stage hand, moving set pieces around behind the scenes so I can star in my epic play about moping and feeling slighted. OR, I can invite God to have a supporting, or--dare I say it--a starring role in my life, in a play about the most wonderful love story of all time: the story of God's extravagant, life-giving love for the world. Either way, God will keep the show going. But let's be real: I think God would make a better lead than me.
Prayer: God, please play the lead role in my life. Let me notice and lift up all the ways you care for me and for this world. Amen.
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