Can He give bread also?

Waiting. Expecting. Not knowing what the future holds. Though perhaps one of the most common states of mortal man, it's also one of the most difficult to bear.

This year began with one blessing tumbling over upon another. Many nights I fell into bed simply exhausted from the pregnancy, but overwhelmed by God's goodness to us.

Yet as the weeks past an unexpected situation arose which I found really difficult to accept. As I kept praying and not receiving an answer I began to get discouraged and impatient, wanting a "yes" now. Then one morning I was reading from Psalm 78.

The Psalmist begins by calling us to attention: this is what we must remember and pass on to our children so they will "set their hope in God"... Then he recounts God's dealings with the Isrealites. How He brought them out of Egypt, divided the sea before them, guided them by a cloudy pillar, brought water gushing forth out of a rock.

But then they cried out against God,

“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
He struck the rock so that water gushed outand streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”

"Can He give bread also?" The question struck home. How quickly I forget. Rather than keeping His many blessings before my eyes and confidently trusting that of course He can "give bread also", I so quickly slip like the Jews of old.

But how much smaller any problem appears when seen in light of all that God has done in the past! And so the Psalmist stresses again and again, remember the past, recount God's goodness, tell your children so that when trials arise you will not forget the one who has lead in the past.

Photo by Christy Thompson