Meditation for April 2, 2008

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Exodus 16:2-5, 11-17, 22-31

 

2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.  In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.  5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days."...

 

11 The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12 "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." 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  14 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. 15 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.  16 This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents." 17 The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.  18 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.

 

22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece.  When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, "This is what the Lord commanded: 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.'" 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none." 27 On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and they found none.  28 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? 29 See!  The Lord has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

 

Trusting in the Daily, Adequate Provision of God

 

The Lord provides for us what we need. 

 

It is hard for many of us to really trust in this truth.  It is a truth founded in the very character of God - in the faithfulness of a loving, caring God.

 

Our anxieties about the provision for our needs leads us to all sorts of interesting and confused places.  The Israelites got so anxious in the wilderness that they forgot all the amazing things that the Lord had just done to bring them out of Egypt.  In fact, their anxiety skewed their vision and their memory.  "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of the bread..." (verse 3)  They make it sound like they were living in luxury in Egypt.  But that had not been the case for a long, long time.  The truth was that they had "groaned under their slavery, and cried out" to God. (Exodus 2:23)  They let their anxieties and fears run away with them in such a way that their memory of the recent past was not only colored, but flat-out wrong.

 

What about our own anxieties about the provision of our needs?

 

It never ceases to amaze me when a professional athlete is already making $10 million dollars a year, is coming to the end of a contract, and you start hearing quotes about whether or not he can stay with his current team, depending on whether or not he is offered enough money in the new contract.  In some instances, you hear quotes like, "I have to make sure that I can put bread on the table for my family."  You already make $10 million a year!! When is enough...enough?  Where is your trust?

 

And what about all the rest of us who don't make anything like $10 million a year?  How anxious do we get when the stock market enters a downturn.  Let me ask this:  do any of you get your newspaper and turn first thing to the business page, and quickly scan to see what the stock market has done on the previous day?  And if it has gone down, how do you react?  Or if you start hearing rumors of more layoffs coming in your company, how do you react to that?  And... here's the real question:  where does the Lord fit in, when you go to that place of worrying and anxiety?  Where has your trust gone - trust in the Lord, I mean?

 

God provides for us in all sorts of different ways.  It does not begin and end with our material needs.  In this story from Exodus 16 of the manna, there is another very important thing going on, too.  The Lord is trying to get the Israelites to appreciate what a great gift they have been given in the sabbath.  The Lord is doing everything possible so that they can truly rest and luxuriate in the sabbath.  "Sleep in!  Play with your children.  Read a good book.  Go sit by a spring and feel the warmth of the sun on your face, and take a nap.  Make love with your spouse.  You will get two days worth of food on the sixth day, and it won't spoil - all so that you can enjoy the sabbath and rest - it is a "sabbath to the Lord." (verse 23)

 

So what did they do?  "On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none." (verse 27)  Just like the Lord said... there would be no manna that day, for they had been given two days' worth on the sixth day.  But they went out to gather.  They worked on the seventh day, too, because they were anxious, even though the Lord had already given them enough on the day before!  Again, when is enough enough?

 

It makes me think of part of the prayer that Jesus taught us, that one we say all the time, that one that many of us have now said thousands and thousands of times.  "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11)  In other words, Jesus taught us to pray for enough bread for this day - our daily bread.  The message is that God provides for us each day.  God provides for us on a daily basis.  But we run around, not always trusting in God's provision.  We work six or sometimes seven days a week.  Why would we work eight hours a day when we could work ten or twelve?  Why work 40 hours a week when you can work 80, and make more money?  When is enough enough?  And do we really trust in God's provision?  And if someone has two or three or four homes, and their brother or sister does not even have enough to eat, and doesn't even have one home, where is the justice in that, especially when Exodus 16 - and the Lord's Prayer - remind us that, in God's loving provision, there is a plan, and in God's good plan, there is enough for everyone? ("They gathered as much as each of them needed." - verse 18)

 

We don't always want to stop with God's adequate provision.  In our eyes, it is not really enough.  We want more and more and still more.  And in all this preoccupation with the material, we sometimes fail to see all the other things that God provides for us!

 

God provides us with Holy Scripture, to lead us to the living Word of God.

God provides us with spouses, children, and other family members and friends who love us - "warts and all".

God provides us with the gift of sabbath, just as He provides it to the Jews.  (Aside:  how would our world be different if all of us really practiced keeping sabbath?)

God provides us with an amazing earth, full of an abundance of resources.  (Aside: how are we being good stewards of that earth?)

God provides us with other people who work to bring us our food, and still others who create beautiful music and beautiful art and beautiful writing, all for our enjoyment.

God provides us with times of quiet, where we can connect with God in prayer, or simply relax and take a walk, or take a nap, or read a book.

Oh, and how about this: God provides us with the Holy Spirit, new life, eternal life, victory over death - meditate on that for a few minutes!

 

I could go on and on, but then this meditation would be way too long, and no one would finish reading it.

 

So I will end on this note.  Do you trust in the Lord's daily and adequate provision for all of your needs?  And if not, what behaviors can you change, so that your trust in God deepens?  How can you test yourself, so that you grow in faith?  Perhaps we can all begin with really thinking about what we are saying when we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  And perhaps we can all go back and re-read the story of Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4:1-11.  Or maybe we can just carry around this thought with us, and meditate on it each day during our quiet time, for the remainder of the 50 days of the Easter season:  The Lord provides for each of us what we need - on a daily basis.  If I have any extra, what will I do with it?