Year in the Bible Daily Reading:
Exodus 16-18; Ephesians 4 Listen to Today's Reading
Exodus 16:11-18
The Lord spoke to Moses, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer per person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.” The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. Exodus 16:11-18 (NRSVUE)
Remember when a candy bar was a nickel, a comic book only cost a dime, and there was no social media? Ah, the “good old days”, an idyllic time.
In our bible passage today, Moses has been leading God’s people away from Egypt for about a month. They’ve had issues finding water – the last oasis had bitter water, but God helped Moses to fix that – and there’s not much food in this desert wilderness. Grumble, grumble said the people: life was so much better in Egypt, being a slave wasn’t so bad, “we sat around pots of meat and ate our fill of bread”, now we’re going to starve!
I can just see God rolling his eyes and thinking, “what a bunch of whiners! I save them from slavery and Pharaoh's army, lead them with a pillar of fire, and get them on the road to the promised land. But do they appreciate it? No. Sigh.” So God tells Moses, “OK here’s the plan…”
But in fairness to the Israelites, I’d probably be complaining too. Taken from a home that I’ve known for a long time, heading into the desert with no idea where we’re going to end up, and now food and water are a challenge. Oh vey!
Heck, I whine about stuff all the time: traffic (are they ever going to finish the intersection at 56th and Old Cheney!), political commercials (so negative), robo calls (ahhhhhh!). Life is so hard.
God doesn’t fix these little annoyances in life. He’s more of a big picture Guy. The challenge is to trust Him daily, obey His instructions, and give thanks for His care. I have been blessed in family, friends and finances. Life is Good!, and I give thanks for that every day.
Historical Side Note: Why did the Israelites wander around in the desert for 40 years? Because even back then, men refused to ask for directions. Ba-dum-bum!
Questions for Reflection:
- How do we handle our own “wilderness” experiences?
- God gives us what He knows we need, but what if it’s not what we want?
Prayer:
Hey God, Thanks for looking out for me. I know you have my best interests at heart. I’ll keep trying to ignore those little annoyances (deep breath) and concentrate on how good my life really is. Amen.
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