1.  What’s the most exotic / strange meal you’ve ever had before?

This question is intended to be a light and fun starter to get group conversation going.

2. Read Exodus 16:1-5, 9-16, 21-29. What do we learn about God from this passage in how he provides for the Israelites?

• God is still God in the desert.
• Sometimes God tests his people.
• God still provides for his people even if they fail the test.
• God will give us what we need for each day.

Part of the test God gave the Israelites was to see if they trusted Him for provision. They had no bread in their tents or in their camp, and they had to trust God each day that He would bring them their daily bread. The manna bred worms when the Israelites hoarded it because they didn’t follow God’s instructions. God had given them exactly what they needed for each day, they just needed to trust Him. 

Manna is a daily portion of what God had allotted to the Israelites. Manna means “what is this?”. Manna rained from heaven, and it appeared when the dew was gone as a small round thing. The manna fell only six days in the week, and in double quantity on the sixth day; it bred worms and became offensive if kept more than one day, except on the sabbath. The people had never seen manna before. This provision continued the entire forty years for the Israelites while they were in the wilderness.

3. Put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites. How difficult do you think it would have been to trust God? What do you think that this experience would have taught us about God? How is God teaching us those same lessons today?

• Trusting in God's storehouse and not our own for provisions. 
• Think of Lamentations 3:22-23, “His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are!” 
• This lesson of trust also shows up in our lives today in our jobs, relationships, family, kids, etc.

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4.  How have you seen God’s faithfulness to you and to his promises in seasons of uncertainty and discomfort? 

• How about in your own personal “deserts?” 
• Reflect back on how God has been faithful throughout your own life. 

5. What promises of God do you need the most right now?

Part of the difficulty of God’s promises is that He often gives us exactly what we need when we need it and not before. Until God gives us what we need, we have to live in trust that God will provide for us. 

6.  Where are you struggling to trust God right now? Play the song “ Waymaker” and bring that struggle before God. Ask God to meet you in that struggle.

7. Reflect together as a group. Close your time by sharing what God impressed upon your heart as you brought your struggles before God.

Close in prayer for each other.