When you hear the word “Blessings,” what comes to your mind? It could be good health, more than enough money, good behaving children and grandchildren, plenty of food, a lovely house, excellent business or job, and all the happiness you can think of in life.
But you know there’s a difference between your expectation of blessings and God’s way of blessings? His way of blessings doesn’t always look like blessings in times, although they will be in the end when you finally see it. It’s confusing, especially when you know what God has promised you, but what you see with your eyes is different.
That’s what happened with the Israelites when they are in the wilderness. God was blessing them and helping them, but it wasn’t in a way they expected. So they commented, “What is it?”
So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.” – Exodus 16:6-8 NIV
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. – Exodus 16:13-15 NIV
People were expecting the bread to rain down from heaven every day. But what they picked up from the ground wasn’t looked anything like what they expected.
The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. – Numbers 11:7-9 NIV
Manna wasn’t what they thought the blessings from God look like in their expectation. But it was God’s provision if they changed how they looked at it and applied to what they needed. Instead, they grumbled and murmured. They complained to Moses every day about what they could have if they were still in Egypt and what they wanted were ready to eat bread and meat, not manna.
How about you? Do you know how God is blessing you even though they came into your life in unexpected ways? Do you see them?
How do you turn, “What is it?” into blessings?
- Have a thankful heart and attitude
- Trust God’s kindness and His goodness
- See and treat every little thing as if they are gifts from God
They change your focus to see the real blessings.
Live with Purpose 
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