The Wednesday Word 3.01.23
Exodus 16:1-5, 17-18, 35
New Living Translation
1
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which
is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they
had come out of Egypt. 2 In
the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The
Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!
There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have
brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then
the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people
are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test
them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On
the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice
as much as they gather on the other days.”
17 The
Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And
when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too
much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had
gathered just as much as they needed.
35 The
Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled;
they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
All
of us go through difficult periods during the course of our lives, whether
these seasons are truly serious or simply may be perceived as such. Whatever
anxiety, pain or loss experienced is very real to the individuals enduring
these periods. This is the physical, material world and bad things happen. It
is how we handle these periods that makes all the difference.
In
spite of so many Divine Interventions, such as the incredible deliverance at
Passover and the amazing escape from Egypt, fear undermined the Israelites.
They complained. They whined. They thought God would lead them out to the
wilderness to starve to death. Fear clouded their memories and obscured their
witness of God’s miracles. You and I are not nearly as different as we may like
to think.
During
those periods of dark days, it is easy to forget the miracles all around us. We
forget the promises found in the pages of The Bible. We might forget all of our
own past experiences of God’s love. It is all too easy to become nearsighted
and consumed with fear over what is happening at that moment. When these dark
days come, trust that there will be manna from Heaven. God does not promise to
solve every problem or bring things to the conclusion you want most. But, the
same way God stayed with the Israelites day in and day out through their
whining and griping and even betrayal, God is with us. He will never leave us
alone and bereft, no matter how dark the days…something to pray about.
Don’t
forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.
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