A Name Change: From Memo to Manna

In the early days of my ministry there sat on my desk a small note pad with the word, “Memo” on top of each page (short for Memorandum). It was a means of communication. Under the word “Memo” were the words: “To” and “From” and “Date” and “Re:” (short for Regarding). In those days I was a university campus minister with students serving each summer as Summer Missionaries. I began to send them a Memo every Monday morning of their summer, as a spiritual jump-start for the week. It became known as “Dan’s Monday Morning Memo.” So now you know the origin of what is now known as “Dr. Dan’s Monday Morning Memo.”

With the coming of E-mail, Facebook, Text Messaging, etc. very few people use a Memo pad any longer. So it is time for a name change. But as I looked for a new, modern, current word, I was drawn back to an even older word. In the Old Testament days, as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God provided daily nourishment for them, called “Manna.”
Manna was provided each morning, enough just for that day, except on the sixth day when two days’ supply was provided, so as not to violate a Sabbath law (Exodus 16:23-24). “Manna” is a Hebrew word described in the Bible as “a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground” (Exodus 16:14) and further, “it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31). Its provision was described as, “when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it” (Numbers 11:9). The Scripture says, “they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted” (Exodus 16:21). Numbers 11:8 adds, “People went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it.” Exodus 16:15 tells us that “when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was”. The word “manna” is believed to have been derived from the question “man hu” meaning “what is it.” Moses informed them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat” (Exodus 16:15). This provision of manna continued for forty years until the Israelites reached the promise land (Exodus 16:35) after which a small amount was kept in a golden pot in the Tabernacle (Exodus 16:32-34).

In the biblical days following, the Psalmist wrote that God, “rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels’ food” (Psalm 78:24-25). The disciples reminded Jesus, “Our fathers ate the manna in the desert” (John 6:31). The writer of Hebrews wrote of “the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna” (Hebrews 9:4). Through the years of Christian history, manna has been a symbol of God’s divine provision of spiritual nourishment.
Thus, “Dr. Dan’s Monday Morning Memo” has become “Dr. Dan’s Monday Morning Manna.” Changes are coming soon to the web and blog sites. It will be provided only on Monday morning rather than daily as in Exodus, the reason being partly because I do not have enough manna for daily provision and partly because I do not have time to prepare it on a daily basis. Eventually I hope to compile these writings into a book of 365 daily meditations, possibly entitled, “Morning Manna Meditations.” But that’s for another day. Today, enjoy your manna.

Join me in praying for the following global concerns:
• Pray for Lew and Brandi and their possible 2 week trip to Morocco this month.
• Pray for Patricia as she continues her Scripture translation work in Cameroon, West Africa.
• Pray for Mike and Pam as they continue language study and seek to encourage believers in Serbia.
• Pray for Trey and Elise as they serve as missionaries-in-residence at Oklahoma Baptist University before returning to Slovakia in the summer.
• Pray for this week’s Vision Tour in Vancouver, Canada.