Our God is the God of manna, not Urbana.

Here's what I mean. When the disciples asked Jesus, "Teach us how to pray..." He said amongst other things, "Give us our daily bread..." (I've really been thinking about the theological depth of the Lord's Prayer: It really is complete.) Now to a Jew daily bread would have conjured up thoughts of when God gave bread to Israel in Exodus: Manna. There, He provided daily for the physical needs of Israel; it may not have been flashy, terribly tasty, or what they wanted day in & day out, but He provided what they needed. He is the God of Manna; He is the God who gives us physically & spiritually what we need; day in & day out.

Now Urbana. Urbana is an outstanding missions conference. I have no problem with Urbana & hope to go one day. It only rhymes with Manna & represents, what I believe, many expect their devotional life to be like day in & day out: Huge & revelatory beyond belief. However, we serve the God of Manna; God gives us what we need. Manna is what we need; Urbana is what we want.

When we sit with God daily in an unrushed time with him He always delivers, He always provides Manna, what we need, our Daily Bread. However, to insist on Urbana when I sit with Him is to betray who He is. He always gives me what I need & even if I don't feel it when I sit at His feet, I receive the seed of the Kingdom & within that seed is the entire Kingdom DNA; & given the correct soil, it grows & grows into...well, Urbana!

God is not a dispensary of my wants. God knows what I need & in the end what I need is really what I wanted! Amazingly He knows the deepest desires of my heart. Sadly, I often confuse wants & needs. Daily bread is what I need.

Our God is the God of Manna, not Urbana. Get your Manna on.