Do you ever feel frustrated when you read about the behaviour and complaints of the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings, or is it just me? Today, my Bible In A Year took me to Exodus 16, where the people were… Guess what? Complaining! Not again, we cry! Only one month after their miraculous escape from Egypt, they bemoaned pots filled with meat and all the bread they could eat. (Exodus 16:3 NLT). Are they remembering Egypt through rose-tinted glasses? I would imagine so, since we know they were slaves working under harsh conditions of enforced labour.
Before we throw our hands up in horror, let’s consider how many times we fall into this same trap. Do I grumble over the present while looking back on my past as a time when life was perfect? Absolutely. Yet when I lived that past, I still found things to moan and groan about as I do today. It’s true that we choose to remember more of the good than the bad. People talk about the good old days, but were they really as good as we like to think?
The ingratitude of the people is incredible. They accuse the two people who faced the wrath of Pharaoh on their behalf of bringing them into the wilderness to starve them to death. (Exodus 16:3 NLT). They actually say, “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt.” The New Living Translation says they moaned, and I had to smile when I read that. On how many occasions has God caught me moaning and groaning? He gives me so much, but when he doesn’t give me what I want, or I feel his answers are slow in coming, I grumble like his people did here. So maybe I should be a little less judgemental as I consider their story and realise the lessons fall a little too close to home.
What does God do with our grumblings? What did he do for the nation of Israel? He didn’t wash his hands with them as an ungrateful group of moaners, even though he would have been justified in doing so. And praise God, he doesn’t do that to us either. In verse 4, God promises to rain down food from heaven. The idea of food being rained down suggests a lavishness. This isn’t going to just be enough for them to get by. There will be plenty and more to spare. However, there’s a test involved. He says, “Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.”
I didn’t like tests when I was at school, and I like them even less now, but they are necessary. You don’t truly know what’s inside a person until you put them to the test. I didn’t realise how much German vocabulary I knew until I sat through a listening exam and discovered I knew what they were saying. I had been paying attention after all, and those hours of revision were worth the free time they cost me.
What is the test here? God says he is trying to find out whether the Israelites will follow his instructions. Being God, he already knew the answer, so did he set the test primarily to reveal the condition of their own hearts? As I look back on the tests he has allowed in my life, I find they both taught and challenged me, and if I allowed them to, they helped me grow.
The Israelites were only to collect the amount of Manna they needed for one day. In doing so, they were showing faith in God’s ability to provide for tomorrow. When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to play a song on her record player, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus. That’s all I’m asking of you. Just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do.” And the Bible teaches that God’s strength and resources are renewed day by day. If he gave me what I need for tomorrow right now, I would squander it and waste it on today, and when tomorrow’s trials and challenges came, I would have nothing to draw from.
The Israelites had to believe that the same Manna they found on the ground today would be there again tomorrow. On the sixth day, they could gather extra, because the seventh day was to be a day of rest. God was very specific in his instructions, making them clear so theoretically, they were easy to obey. However, not all the people listened.
God reasoned that each of them required two quarts to fulfil their dietary needs, so when gathering Manna for their families, they had to take this into consideration. I can picture them descending upon the mana like a flock of hungry birds. They were dubious at first because this was an unknown substance, but it was food, and they were hungry. The younger folk gathered eagerly. Perhaps some pushed and shoved to get to where the Manna lay thickest, hoping they would have the best supply. Then there were the elderly folk who struggled to bend and gather their Manna. Was there someone to help them? I hope so, but inevitably some would have stooped to gather alone. Some returned to their tents loaded down with Manna, while others struggled to gather their supply, but the Bible says that when they measured it out, everyone had enough. The people who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had just enough. Each family had just what it needed. (Exodus 16:18 NLT).
I love the end of that verse. “Each family had just what they needed.” I can imagine the prideful ones looking at their scales in disbelief, thinking, “I’m sure I collected more than that,” while the elderly and infirm would have weighed out their Manna, and said, “Thank you Lord for giving me more than I could gather.” They all had enough, and those who tried to keep some for the following day were disappointed when it went rotten, and they had to throw it away. The following morning would bring more Manna, and the next. The same daily routine was repeated year after year. I wonder how long it took them to learn God’s lessons of provision. I wonder if it took as long as it does for me.
I remember a hymn we sang at the church I attended as a child. One line said, “With his Manna he my hungry soul shall fill.” My soul is hungry for many things, and God knows exactly what they are and how to feed me. He will give me enough for today, then allow me to wait in faith for his renewed supply tomorrow. Tomorrow’s needs may differ from today’s, but he’s got those covered, too.
One more lesson came to mind in this story of the children of Israel gathering Manna, and sadly, it is another I am slow in learning. Once More, I picture the Israelites swarming like flies as they collected their food, and I think of the effort some would have put into the task, only to discover they had gathered as much as those who could only stoop once or twice. I think about the way I sometimes rely on self-effort to please God. Surely if I work harder, he will love me more. But if I don’t, what will happen then? I fall into the rat race of doing in order to please a God who simply loves me because I am his child. I can’t earn more of his love by serving him. Yes, it’s good to serve, but I should do so with joy out of a heart of love, rather than to get something I already have. And I certainly shouldn’t compare myself to others who outwardly seem to do less. How dare I judge a brother or sister’s heart when my own is often so compromised!
The more I read, the more I see myself in the mirror of God’s people’s wilderness journeys. I grumble, I complain, and I rely on my own efforts instead of trusting the daily faithfulness of my Saviour. Praise God for his patience and kindness, which he shows to me daily, just as he did them.