the bread of singleness ...

when i got in the car sunday night, a lady was saying that if we trust God to provide everything we need, then we have to trust that what we don't have (specifically a husband) is not something we need right now.  it struck me that God is saying there is something we need more at this time ~ the benefits of singleness, the preparation, his preparation ~ whatever the case may be.  while this is something that i fundamentally know, it was put in a way i had not considered before.  it was a powerful reminder and encouragement when my singleness can be such a struggle. 

God withholds no good thing from His children.  this is not me asking for bread and Him giving me a stone (matthew 7: 10 & 11).  no, He is a good Father who gives only good gifts to His children.  i have to trust that this is, in fact, the best bread i have ever tasted, and enjoy every bite until such time as He sees fit to give me a new recipe.

the israelites had to eat manna for a VERY long time, but let us not forget that it was still bread from HEAVEN!  if we fall into the trap of complaining about what we have and wanting more, then we run the risk of God giving us what we THINK we need ... and the risk of being struck down by the very thing we craved.

“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.  You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,  but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea.  It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day's walk in any direction.  All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail.  No one gathered less than ten homers.  Then they spread them out all around the camp.  But while meat was still between their teeth, and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and He struck them with a severe plague.  Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.  (numbers 11: 18 - 20, 31 - 34).

in the words of chris daughtry ...
Be careful what you wish for
'Cause you just might get it all
And then some you don't want

i am so thankful that God knows His children intimately - what they are struggling with, how to speak to them in a way that they will hear, and exactly what they need even when they don't understand.  may we not be found craving anything other than what He gives.

taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.  (psalm 34:8)