Exodus 16:9-15 “Then Moses told Aaron, ‘Say to the entire Israelite community, Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 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.”

You might miss the first evidence of God’s grace in the story. As he promised, God’s glory appeared to the nation from the cloud that led the people through the desert. This “glory of the Lord” was a very visible sign God gave to let the people know that he was with them and on their side. When it appears in the Bible, it is always an indication that good things are about to happen for the people of God. It appeared to seal the covenant of grace with Abraham, was involved in the burning bush to send Moses as the nation’s deliverer, kept the people safe at the Red Sea in the pillar of fire before they crossed to safety on dry ground. It would descend on their worship tent and live in the Holy of holies when they set it up later on, and in the Most Holy Place of Solomon’s temple after that. It was the glory of the Lord that lighted up the fields outside of Bethlehem just before the angel told them a Savior had been born to them, who is Christ the Lord.

So here the glory of the Lord appears as a promise of God’s presence and intention to take care of his people’s every need. Perhaps more than it spoke to them of the food that was about to miraculously drop from heaven, it was a sign of God’s forgiveness. He was not holding their grumbling against them. He was going to return their complaints and accusations with kindness.

For us God’s glory doesn’t appear in a bright flash of light or otherworldly glow. Paul wrote the Corinthians that God has given us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” God’s glory appears to us in Jesus, the Light of the World. As often as we sin, Jesus reminds us that the Lord has not abandoned us. He clothed himself in human flesh, joined us in our world, and lived and died as our substitute to fully satisfy the demands of justice for our sin. Jesus showed up, and that meant good things, the greatest things, happened for the people of God. He is the ultimate demonstration of God’s grace.

After this show of God’s grace with the appearance of God’s glory, his grace is clear to see the generosity that followed: the quail and the manna.

Have you ever gone hunting? I don’t hunt much anymore, but when I did I missed my target more often than I hit it. With my current skill set, if I had to hunt to eat, my family and I would be hungry.

The Lord didn’t leave his gift of meat to chance. Quail covered the camp. You basically just had to go outside and grab one. The Lord did everything but deliver the birds cooked and boxed like Colonel Sanders.

Have you ever raised a vegetable garden? You have to till, and plant, and weed, and water, and cultivate, and pick to cook and eat. The process takes months. Maybe you get a crop. Maybe the rabbits or insects get it before you do.

The Lord didn’t expect his people to figure out desert gardening. Six days a week the thin, white flakes of manna appeared on the ground, ready to eat. This happened over 12,000 times for the next forty years. It was always there, always fresh, always just outside their doors. The only way you could go hungry would be if you were too lazy to bend over and pick some up.

Our food may not come so easy. But it comes in greater variety and abundance. In our country we throw away 150,000 tons of food every day, enough to feed one meal to every American every day. You can buy fresh corn on the cob or just picked strawberries in the dead of winter. Maybe it isn’t raining down from heaven. But our bounty is still a demonstration of God’s grace, a generous answer to our prayer for daily bread.

            Let’s remember to be grateful for the riches we have received.