They're Gr-r-reat! But What About Tomorrow?
By Cale Pritchett 

Scripture
Exodus 16:14–21; Lamentations 3:22–23; Romans 15:13

Exodus 16:14–15 (NIV)
"When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, 'It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.'"

Devotional
I love cereal.  My top 3 cereals?  Peanut Butter Chex, Cracklin’ Oat Bran, and the G.O.A.T of cereals: Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  So, as I was spending time recently in the book of Exodus, I came across something that make me think of……. cereal. 

In Exodus 16, the Israelites are wandering through the wilderness, hungry and complaining to Moses about their circumstances. God responds by providing them with a mysterious food called manna.

And how does the Bible describe manna?

"Thin flakes like frost on the ground."

Frosted Flakes! Did God inspire Tony the Tiger?!  We’ll never know. 

There's an interesting history behind Frosted Flakes. The original Kellogg's Corn Flakes were developed by two brothers in the late 1800s who believed that a simple, healthy diet could improve people's lives. But the brothers eventually disagreed about their cereal. One wanted to keep it plain and healthy. Other people believed they would enjoy it more if it were sweetened.  Eventually, the sweet side won, and the Kellogg company went on to introduce sugar-coated Frosted Flakes in 1952.

Now, I'm not suggesting the Israelites were eating breakfast cereal in the desert. But the comparison got me thinking about something much more important than what they were eating.  Think about the Israelites' circumstances. They had escaped slavery in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and were now living in a wilderness with no farms, no grocery stores, and no reliable source of food. They were hungry, frightened, and uncertain about their future.

And God's solution was unusual.  He didn't give them enough food to last a month. He didn't provide a year's supply that they could store away for emergencies.  He gave them enough for a day.  In fact, God specifically instructed them not to save any for the next morning, except in preparation for the Sabbath. When some tried to keep extra, it spoiled.  Imagine how difficult that must have been! After everything they had experienced, God was asking them to go to sleep each night without knowing for certain what they would eat the next day.

But every morning, the frosted flakes (manna) returned. God was teaching the Israelites something that had very little to do with food and everything to do with faith.  Trust me today. And trust that I'll be here tomorrow.

Hundreds of years later, the writer of the Book of Lamentations expressed a remarkably similar understanding of God's faithfulness.  "His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."   What's especially powerful about these words is the context in which they were written. Lamentations describes a time of terrible suffering following the destruction of Jerusalem. The writer wasn't celebrating a period of prosperity or comfort. Quite the opposite. He was surrounded by grief, destruction, and uncertainty. And yet, in the middle of that suffering, he recognized that God's mercy had not disappeared.  It was new every morning.  Just like the manna.

We spend an enormous amount of our lives worrying about tomorrow. Our finances, our health, our families, our careers, our relationships. We want to know what's coming, and we want to be prepared for it.  And there's nothing wrong with planning for the future. But sometimes our desire to prepare becomes a desire to control. We convince ourselves that if we can just anticipate every problem, eliminate every uncertainty, and have enough of everything stored away, we'll finally find peace.

But that's not how God taught the Israelites to live.  And it's not what Paul teaches us in Romans 15:13. Paul writes, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him."  Notice what Paul doesn't say.  He doesn't say we'll find peace when all our problems are solved. Or when our bank accounts are full. Or when we finally know exactly what tomorrow will bring.  He says joy and peace come as we trust in God.  And through the power of the Holy Spirit, that trust allows us to overflow with hope.

That's a different way of looking at our future.  Hope isn't simply believing that tomorrow will be better than today. It's believing that whatever tomorrow brings, God's faithfulness will remain.  The Israelites didn't know what tomorrow would bring. Neither did the writer of Lamentations. And neither do we.  But they learned something we can learn too.  God's faithfulness isn't something we have to store up for a rainy day. It's something we can depend on, one day at a time.

So the next time you see a box of Frosted Flakes, perhaps you'll think about those Israelites waking up in the wilderness, finding another morning's worth of manna waiting for them.   And perhaps you'll ask yourself a question:

What am I worrying about today that I need to trust God with tomorrow?
Because while Tony the Tiger might tell us that Frosted Flakes are Gr-r-reat, there's something even greater.  A God whose mercies are new every morning.

PS – this devotion was not sponsored by Frosted Flakes. 

Prayer
Faithful and loving God, thank you for the many ways you provide for us, often in ways we don't recognize or understand. Forgive us when our worries about tomorrow keep us from recognizing your blessings today. Help us to trust in your faithfulness, even when the future is uncertain, and fill us with the hope, joy, and peace that come through your Holy Spirit. Amen.