Manna

Exodus 16

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Exodus. The word “exodus” means to leave or go away from.

We begin in a desert. Have you ever been to a desert? This one was hot and sandy.


God’s people, the Israelites, were in the desert. And they were NOT happy about it. They were hot and sweaty and HUNGRY.


God saw that they were hungry. So, He told them, "I will send food for you. And when you wake up, you can eat it."


That night, while everyone slept, God sent food for them. Have you ever heard of something so amazing! When the people woke up, they were so excited! God gave us food for today! Yay! Thank You, God! They were so thankful. 


But then . . . Uh-oh! Instead of being happy and grateful, they were worried! Do you want to know why they were worried? The Israelites were worried that God wouldn’t give them food again the next day. And they went to bed worried.


But when the Israelites woke up, there was bread on the ground again. Yay! God gave us food today! Thank You, God! Surely they’ll stay thankful now...right? 


Nope. Again, they went to bed worried. But every morning, they woke up to more bread!


Day after day this happened, over and over again until finally, the Israelites stopped worrying. They knew that they could trust God to give them what they needed each day. And they were thankful.


But what about us? Can God give US what we need each day? Yes! So, we can be thankful. Thankful when it’s pizza day or rice day or taco Tuesday because we can thank God for everything. 



Bible Paraphrase: I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. —Psalm 111:1, ESV

Text Truth: I can thank God for food.



Family Devotional

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” —Exodus 16:4-5

Our Bible story was about something amazing that God did! Moses and the people didn’t have any food. What was the amazing thing God did about it? God gave the people food. Moses and the people thanked God for their food, and you can thank God for your food, too. You can thank God for EVERYTHING.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. —Psalm 111:1, ESV

Moses and the people were thankful for the food God gave them. So, with your family, make a list of some of your favorite foods.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, Thank You for all of the yummy food you give us. Thank You for (read the list your family made). Help us thank You for everything, even the foods that aren’t our favorites, because we can thank You for everything! You are the best, God, and we love You very much. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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