Daily Portion
Alexis Kelley // UGA Student & College and Communications Intern
There is a simple way to be full. Eat every day. At the beginning of this semester, after a conference like Reset, I want to encourage everyone to eat every day. Yes, eat food, but more importantly, dig into the Word. As we start this year and figure out our new schedules, I cannot stress enough the importance of spending time with the Lord every day. So, to encourage you in this, I’m going to walk you through one of my own wanderings through the Word. I will also leave you with some practical things that many wise people have taught me to do when approaching a more consistent time in God’s Word.
I recently heard a talk on How to Meet with God taught by David Mathis in which he mentioned Exodus chapter 16. If you find a moment, go read the entire chapter, but to give some context, the Israelites had just been freed from Egypt. They saw the power of God through the plagues and through the parting of the Red Sea. God had already provided water for them in the wilderness, but still they started to complain again. There was not enough food for them to eat, but the Lord heard them. This is what happened:
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
Now at first, this doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with meeting with God every day. It never talks about the greatness of God’s Word, but it does show us the greatness of His character. We see how He longs to fill us and provide for us. He told Moses, “And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day”. A daily provision from the Lord fills us up to do all the things that He has put in front of us that day.
With all of that in mind, I thought of how God says He is the bread of life, so I decided to search for the times that bread is mentioned in the Bible. One of the first places it took me was the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. Every time Satan tries to tempt Jesus, He fights back with scripture. When Satan tried to capitalize on Jesus’ physical hunger, he told Him to turn the stones into bread. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 which says,
“He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”.
God gave the Israelites manna so that they would learn the importance of the Word of God! So even though at first the story of manna in Exodus 16 doesn’t seem like it’s talking about the Word at all, even scripture points to the ways that it is! I love finding themes like this in the Bible. It is so simple to just search for different words that jump out to you and see them show up in different passages. It always ends up showing you a thread of the Bible that portrays the gospel in a way you never might have otherwise noticed. God desires to show us Himself, and He went so far as to give His only Son so that we may be filled and known. John 6:51 says,
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
When we are consumed with the awe of that, how can we not go to Him every single day?
Just like the Israelites, we are to gather truth from the Lord every day. It’s not something that we go to store up and prepare for the rest of the week. We approach going to a grocery store like that. Just like God took even the possibility of gathering manna for a week away from the Israelites, so we should abandon our grocery store habits. Instead, think of it as your daily dinner, a table you can sit down at and feast from. It will be enough for that day, never leaving you hungry.
Please don’t hear any guilt or shame in my words if you haven’t been spending time with the Lord daily. I understand the busyness and demands that grab our attention. Waking up earlier, going to bed later, or finding time that is quiet in the middle of our day seems near impossible with the variety and chaotic nature of being a college student. But I want to encourage you. I want to remind you that our God longs to meet with you. He wrote and rendered the entire story of the Bible so that He could dwell with us. Learning about that kind of love is what draws us deeper into the Word.
So what are some practical things that you can do to start a habit of meeting with God every day? I love that part of the passage in Exodus 16 says,
“They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.”
It is a growing relationship. You never have to feel like you’re not doing enough because it’s not about you at all. It’s about how God is enough. He provides the filling. Don’t compare to the people around you, but instead approach the Word with a heart ready to meet with a Person. In my notes from that sermon by David Mathis, it says, “Our most pressing need is not to master the Bible, but to be mastered by God”
Simple steps that have helped me:
1. Make a plan – Go ahead and set a time in your schedule to read. Make it a nonnegotiable time, even if it’s just 10 minutes. And decide what you’ll do once you get to that time. Do you want to read a book of the Bible? Is there a reading plan that sounds particularly helpful to you? Do you want to journal? What will you pray for? (Watkinsville has a reading plan you can find here! It’s not too late to join in!)
2. Find accountability – yes, this should be a time between you and God, but He has put people on this earth that can help us face to face! I have found that it’s helpful for me to take a picture of what I’ve read that day and send it to my accountability partner. We don’t have to read what each other has written, but it’s so encouraging to know that someone is waiting for you to send a picture of your time with the Lord every day. If not that, maybe do a plan together on the Bible app! Or find time to meet and talk about what you’ve been reading! It’s easier to get excited about things when other people are around you getting excited too!
3. Minimize distractions – start your time by asking God to settle your heart and minimize distractions. I like to keep a pad of sticky notes close by so that if I start to let my mind wander about something, I can just put it on that sticky note and forget about it until I’m done. Do your best to be in a place where you know no one will interrupt. Maybe put your phone on do not disturb, or if you’re not using it to help you study, put it in another room!
4. Look for God’s character – again, these daily moments are simply times for us to continue preaching the gospel to ourselves. They are to teach us more about the heart of God. His character is what draws us in, and what invites us to imitate Him! The Bible is the best way to seek the Lord. And as you read and think about more truth, the more the lies will fade away.
I hope this encourages you at the start of this semester! There are so many resources for us to use while reading the Bible. Find what works for you, but never deemphasize the importance of the Word. It is powerful and what we use to find both fulfillment and identity and strength to fight against the schemes of the Devil. I am praying that your daily portion is rich today, that it leaves you completely satisfied and expectant for tomorrow.
Alexis is an English and marketing major at UGA. She is a Watty college and communications intern and is involved in the Woodall tribe! She also spent the summer in Boston through Watty this past summer. She is passionate about building relationships and getting to know people’s stories and loves serving the church!
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