Our Security and Strength

The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. – Exodus 16:31

Yesterday, we began a discussion on five truths about God, specifically in reference to how He takes care of us. So often we take Him for granted, just like the Israelites did. But when we look at these five truths, we are reminded of how incredible God is.

We already talked about how God is our source and our supply. He provides for us and meets all of our needs. If you missed yesterday’s devotion, I encourage you to go back and read it.

For today, let’s discuss the final three truths we need to understand about our Heavenly Father.

The third truth we need to understand is that God is our security. There is nothing more insulting to God than to put your security in anything other than Him. If you put your security in the stock market, it can crash. You can put your security in a business, and it can go bankrupt. You can try to find your security in a human being, but they leave you or die. We learned several years ago you can put your security in real estate and lose your shirt. Even Social Security is not secure. We just found out it is expected to be completely insolvent by the year 2033.

God is better than Social Security. He is better than financial security. God gives eternal security. He doesn’t need 401Ks, stock markets, real estate, or cash on hand to meet your needs and to give you security, but we do need God to give us security. He is the only one who can.

Fourth, we need to understand that God is our strength. The most important strength we need to face every day is not physical strength; it is spiritual strength. That is why we need every day to feed on God’s Word. That is why if they tried to hoard the bread and keep it overnight, it would spoil. They needed to eat new manna every day just like you and I need to hear from God in a new way every day.

If you are going to be a healthy, hearty, holy Christian, you’ve got to eat the bread of God’s word every single day. This gives new meaning to the Lord’s Prayer. When you pray, “Lord, give us this day our daily bread,” you are not just to be praying for God to meet your strength physically. What you are saying is, “Lord, I open your Word today and feed on your manna today. Give me the daily spiritual bread that I need to be what you want me to be and to do what you want me to do.” We need to be reminded every day that God is our strength.

Finally, we need to understand that God is our salvation. God gave the manna only to Israel, but He has given Jesus to the whole world. The manna only gave physical life, but God’s Son gives eternal life. Just as the Jews had to go to that bread, and get that bread, and eat that bread, we have to go to Jesus. We have to take the bread of His salvation. We have to taste and see that the Lord is good and when we do, we won’t just have physical life for today; we have eternal life forever. You see, the Jews ate that manna, but they eventually died, but when you eat the bread of life, you live forever.

Dear Lord, thank you for being my security, my strength, and my salvation. Apart from you, I have nothing. Help me to rest in the truths we’ve discussed the last two days so that I won’t forget who you are and how you take care of me. In Jesus’ name, amen.