Jonah and His Manah

Manah is a Hebrew word meaning provide, number, prepare, assign, appoint... it has the idea of weighing or counting out. Five M&Ms for you, seven for him, three for me. Something like that. After Jonah is thrown into the sea, God, with a saving and generous love, manahed a big fish to swallow him. A while later God manahed a plant to grow to give him shade. What grace! What joy! What peace! God is good!

And then God manahed a worm. A worm to eat the plant. And then He manahed "a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, 'Death is better to me than life .'"

What grace! What joo... Huh?

We're so ready to take the things we like, things that make us more comfortable, that build us up. We want the good stuff. But perhaps those things we don't like, the discipline, the worms and all the other things that scorch us and beat down on us - perhaps those are just another form of His grace.

Perhaps He's protecting us. Maybe He's guarding us or preparing us. I know He's teaching us humility. He might be disciplining us in love. I think He wants to remind us that He is God and that He is in control. After all, it is Him that is manahing in the first place.

We all want things in our timing. Our GoVerona team would love to be in Verona by Valentine's Day. That's what our hearts are begging God for... but maybe - just maybe, this waiting is part of God's manahing too.

Wasn't it Jonah who said that God was gracious and compassionate and full of love?

I find it interesting that the food the Israelites ate was called manna, which literally means, "What is it?" So, maybe that's what we need to be asking instead of "Why?"...

Manna? Manah.

What is it? It's God's provision.