Manna from Monday

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3, NIV).

Who tells you who you are? Where do you find your identity?

Sometimes we are tempted to look to the things of earth to tell us who we are. The Gospel, on the other hand, exhorts us to gaze upon the things of heaven to gain our sense of self. When we are tempted to let our earthly families define us – When we are tempted to let this nation define us – When we are tempted to let the good and evil events of our past define us, the Lord Jesus comes to us and exemplifies a better way. Jesus shows us how to defer to his Father in heaven when we want to know who we are. God knows us better than anyone. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He told Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1.5, ESV).

Before Yahweh sends him on mission as a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah is reminded that he is known exhaustively by the One who sends him. When Jeremiah doubts his ability (1.6), he is reminded that he rests within the intimate web of God’s comprehensive knowledge. God knows us and wants us to know ourselves as we are known by him.

John Frye, in his book, Jesus the Pastor, encourages us with these words.

[Christian], on the brink of or neck-deep in your [daily tasks], do you live in the confidence that God knows you, calls you by name, and is with you? Do you find strength in the truth that he knows the deep you with whom you are perhaps out of touch or of whom you are unaware? Do you depend on and find courage in the truth that Jesus is also called “Immanuel”? God is with you!

Sisters and brothers, God knows us. He has known us for eternity (Rom 8.29; 1 Peter 2.1). He not only knows us, he loves us and is on our side. May each of us live out the confidence of an identity that is offered to us by the One who truly knows each of us.  

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (Rom 8.31-32, ESV)?