What we really need.... - by Ben Bonython

Human bodies are fairly resilient and can function for days and weeks without proper food and water. This isn’t to say that going without food for a prolonged period is healthy or should be practiced.

In a 1997 editorial in the British Medical Journal, researcher Peel found that humans can survive without any food for 30-40 days, as long as they are properly hydrated.

The body needs lots of water to carry out many essential functions, such as balancing the internal temperature and keeping cells alive. As a general rule, a person can survive without water for around 3 days.

Over 3000 years ago, in the wilderness and up a mountain, there was unlikely to be a water supply, let alone 24hr room service or WiFi.

Yet the 80+ year old Moses was on the mountain of the Lord for 40 days, twice, recorded in Exodus 24:18 and 34:28. In Exodus 32:1, the bible records that the people thought there was little chance of Moses returning from the mountain...and fair assumption, for what did Moses eat and drink to survive up there?

The wilderness itself had minimal capability to support a large group of people on the move.

During the Exodus, God’s people learnt to trust the Lord for their basic daily needs receiving daily bread that tasted like honey (Ex 16) and streams of living water from a rock (Ex 17). Have we learnt this lesson or do we trust in our own hands more than we should and too often forget the Lord in our every day?

In other words, what we really need in this life is God alone, and to be in His presence. We need nothing more than the Lord for true life.

In Egypt, God’s people were sustained by their own hands. In the wilderness, they were sustained by the Lord. In the same way, we need to accept without reservation that the Lord sustained Moses for those 40 days. And He can sustain you! For what really matters is to dwell in the presence and life of God, just as David stated in Psalm 27:4.