Whatness

On the reservation where I live, there is a little town called Tokio.

It is funny when visitors ask, “Tokyo? Isn’t that in Japan?”

Well, yes, and no.

Tribal historian Louis Garcia once told me how Tokio got its name. The railroad was going to be coming through that area, but it was sparsely populated. The Dakota people would travel nearby and ask the railroad workers, “Tokhiyothan?” which meant, “Where is it?” or “In what direction is it?”

The workers thought that the Dakota were telling them what that place was called, so the town became “Tokio,” officially named, “Where is it?”

When the Israelites were wandering in a similar sparsely populated desert, they complained to God by asking the same question about food.

The Lord told them that the next morning, they would be filled with bread. He hoped that His provision would prove to them that He was the Lord their God who could provide for them.

When they awoke in the morning, something was on the ground with the dew. Instead of the loaves of bread they had expected, they saw a fine, flake-like substance

They said to one another, “What is it?”

In Hebrew, they called it “the whatness.”

The whatness was how God was going to provide for them. They simply had to follow His instructions. Gather enough for each person in your tent to eat for the day. Do not save it. No need for tupperware. Just trust God to provide exactly what you need for each day.

Some didn’t listen. Perhaps they saw the whatness melting as the sun grew hot, and they panicked about not having enough to feed their children the next day. In any case, they disobeyed and tried to save it. It festered, sprouted worms, and stank.

On the sixth day, God provided what the people would need for the Sabbath, and He told them that they could gather enough for two days since He had commanded them to rest on the Sabbath. Again, some disobeyed and went searching for more when they should have been abiding in the presence of the Lord on the Lord’s Day.

A non-Christian friend asked this week how Christians can have the crazy kind of faith to believe that Jesus is God incarnate, able to forgive sins of anyone from any time. His question echoed down from the ancient Israelites, “What is this Whatness?”

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”

He is the Whatness of life, whether we recognize Him or not, and He sustains spiritual and eternal life for those who follow His instructions.

He is enough for us each day, even when His provision doesn’t make sense. He gives peace which surpasses all understanding, guarding our hearts and our minds in a world mad with anxiety.

It’s a crazy kind of faith that doesn’t get bogged down in the where or the what because we are so enamored by the Who.