"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:32–33)
The very thought that depression could be present when you wake up tomorrow makes you wish that you would not wake up. The thought of being depressed next month or next year is unbearable. You can't imagine how you could survive that long. But remember that depression can only forecast the worst. It is not telling the whole truth.
During the Israelites' forty years in the wilderness, God fed them with manna. Those forty years established how God works: he gives you just enough for the day. Tomorrow, he will give you just enough for that day. He does not give manna for the entire week. If he did, we would forget him until the manna ran out.
When the wilderness years ended, manna became known as grace. God gives you grace for today; he will give you fresh grace tomorrow. As the prophet Jeremiah laments, he remembers, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lam. 3:22–24).
This is important. Your mission is to live out of the grace that the Lord gives you today. One small step, then perhaps another. You take interest in another person. You pray, even if you would rather not do anything. You open your Bible to a psalm, even if you think nothing matters. Little steps of faith in the right direction.
Will you be undone if you imagine the future? Absolutely. You are imagining your future without the manna—without the grace—that you will receive on that day. You are imagining a future without God.
You are not a prophet, which means that, other than normal planning, you have no business living in the future you can't predict. Instead, you ask your Lord, "What should I do with the grace I receive today?" When today seems endless, focus on the grace you have for the next hour or the next minute. Though small steps and patient endurance do not seem like a grand mission, God calculates differently than we do, and endurance by faith is so important that it has value both now and in eternity.
Today's passage says Jesus is our manna. You probably have some sense of how a person can be the greatest gift that God gives you—a person who loves you, who is with you, who talks when you want to talk, who pushes you when you need to be pushed. Jesus is that person. He partners with you in the work to be done. More accurately, you partner with him in the works he has planned for you. “We are . . . created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:30 NIV). He gives you grace for work that is suited to you, and he will give you the strength you need for today's small step.
Reflect: “Manna for today.” How could this grace affect your fear of the future?
Act: What will you pray? Who will you speak with? What next small step will you take? What do you think is a wise response?
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This devotional is taken from Ed Welch's book, Depression: Finding Christ in the Darkness.
