“They asked, and he brought them quail; he fed them well with the bread of heaven.” Psalm 105:40
I am sure you all remember the quail season we had back including Balconies of apartments, when everybody seemed to be raising quails and even eating raw quail eggs, unachapa moja asubuhi, kengine ulale. That was a proper fad. It seemed like everywhere you turned, someone was talking about quails, someone was selling quails, or someone was encouraging you to start keeping them because there was good money in it. And to be fair, many of our people who got into it at the beginning actually made good money. If you started raising quails early enough, I am sure you reaped a hundredfold in terms of profits and all. There was a market for the birds, there was a market for the eggs, and for a while it looked like one of those ventures that could really change someone’s financial situation.
But then, like many things, the excitement slowly disappeared. What had started with so much promise and abundance gradually turned into less demand, less profit, and eventually, for many people, no profit at all. The quails were still there, but the season had changed. What once looked like a great opportunity was no longer the opportunity it had been when everybody first got into it.
That is actually what came up in a conversation today when I was sitting around a table having a tête-à-tête with my churchmates, including the Vicar (Rector), Rev Henrietta. We started talking about those days and remembering how popular quail farming had become, and as we talked about it, I started thinking about God’s provision and how different God’s provision is from the things we sometimes depend on.
Because the truth is, we can easily confuse the thing God uses to provide for us with God Himself. When something is working well, we naturally begin to feel secure in it. When a business is doing well, we feel secure because of the business. When a job is paying well, we feel secure because of the salary. When an opportunity opens doors for us, we begin to think that opportunity is what will carry us forward. And there is nothing wrong with being grateful for those things, but we have to remember that none of them is our ultimate source.
Things change. Businesses change. Jobs change. Markets change. Opportunities change. What was profitable yesterday may not be profitable tomorrow. What brought abundance in one season may bring very little in another. We saw that with the quails. There was a time when people were making good money from them, and then, just like that, the season changed.
That is why the words in Psalm 105 are so powerful: “They asked, and he brought them quail; he fed them well with the bread of heaven.” The Israelites needed food, they asked, and God provided. He brought them quail. But notice that the Scripture says He brought them the quail.
The quail was the means, but God was the Provider. The quail was never the source. God was.
And I think that is something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time. Sometimes God will use a particular job to provide for us. Sometimes He will use a business. Sometimes He will use a person. Sometimes He will use an opportunity that we never expected. Sometimes He will open a door that we could never have opened ourselves. We should be grateful for every one of those things, but we should never become so attached to the method that we forget the One behind it.
Because when the method changes, God has not changed. When the business changes, God has not changed. When the job changes, God has not changed. When the opportunity disappears, God has not disappeared.
The Israelites received quail, but their confidence could not ultimately be in the quail because the quail was never God. It was simply what God provided at that particular moment. And perhaps that is the lesson we can take from our own quail season. The fact that something worked wonderfully in one season does not mean it was meant to be our source forever. Sometimes God allows us to experience abundance through one avenue, and then that avenue changes, not because He has abandoned us, but because He is still God and He is not limited to one way of providing.
Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” David’s confidence was not in what he had around him. His confidence was in the Lord. That is where our confidence needs to be as well. We can appreciate the job, but the job is not our source. We can appreciate the business, but the business is not our source. We can appreciate the opportunity, but the opportunity is not our source. These things are channels through which God may choose to provide, but the Source remains God.
Maybe there is someone reading this today who is experiencing a change in their own “quail season.” Maybe something that used to bring abundance is no longer bringing the same results. Maybe a business is not doing what it used to do. Maybe an income has changed. Maybe an opportunity you thought would last has come to an end. Maybe you are looking at what you once had and wondering where that abundance went. If that is you, remember the quails. Remember that the season changed, but God did not.
This is why we should never build our entire confidence around what is working today. What is working today can change tomorrow, but God remains faithful. We may not know exactly what the next provision will look like, but we know who the Provider is. We may not know which door He will open next, but we know He is still able to open doors. We may not know where the next opportunity will come from, but we know that our God is not limited by the opportunities we can see.
The quail season came, and the quail season went. But God remained. That is the part I want us to remember today. Our circumstances can change without God’s faithfulness changing. Our source of income can change without God changing. Our plans can change without God’s ability to provide changing. What we have today may look different tomorrow, but our God remains the same.
So as we remember those days of raising quails and eating raw quail eggs, let us remember something much more important than the quails themselves. Let us remember that God has always been our Provider. He may provide through different channels at different times, but the Source remains the same.
The provision may look different from one season to another, but God’s faithfulness does not.
And when the quails are no longer there, we should not assume that God has stopped providing. We should simply look to Him and trust that He knows what we need and He knows how to provide it. After all, the God who provided quail in the wilderness is still the same God today.
God’s provision never fails. Never ever fails. The method may change, the season may change, and the circumstances may change, but God remains faithful.
