Exodus 16:2-15
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Way In
When people start to worry about scarcity, they get anxious – there’s not going to be enough
Examples
Time
People get anxious when they’re afraid that, “time’s running out”
You’re going to miss your ride, not get your grass cut, not get your project or homework finished …
Starting your summer reading list at the end of August
Everyone here seems well-organized and planned
But maybe you’ve had this experience, if even just a few times – “time’s running out!”
In which case you’ve had a taste of the anxiety from running out of time
Or maybe you’re like the expression, “if it wasn’t for the last minute, I’d never get anything done.”
In which case, you’re well acquainted with this anxiety
In fact, they say that people like us, I mean, people like that
thrive off of the anxietyFood, especially candy
Trick or Treat season is coming up, extra candy rows set up at the store
we can’t buy too early at my house, or it will be gone by 10/31
but you know about how you keep on going, one more house, one more stop
just to be sure you get enough goodies
real emergencies – storms, hurricanes, tornadoes
see how groceries, gasoline, ice, etc. are stock-piled
Bridge
This is scarcity, “there’s not going to be enough,” people get a little panicky,
Hoarding
Storing it up, “just in case”
Biblical narrative, up until now, had been the story of abundance
God created the world
Called it “good, very good.”
Made plants, and animals, fish, and birds, and humans
Saying, “be fruitful and multiply”
God created the universe and everything in it
Celebrated in the overflowing abundance
God blessed Abraham and Sarah
Blessed them to be a blessing
Their descendants are numbered more than grains of sand on the beach or stars in the heavens
Later in Genesis, as a great famine spread, Pharaoh took over the food supply with an iron fist. He did this to keep control over the food supply
He made the situation worse, the hungry suffered
Scarcity introduced into the culture of abundance in God
Today’s reading is a story of humankind’s struggle between the history of God’s generosity and the human myth of scarcity (Brueggeman)
God promises to provide enough of everything we need, but we insist on acting as if there will never be enough.
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Tell the Story
Today we find the people of Israel, not long after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt – they are grumbling
There wasn’t enough to eat
At least they had food in Egypt
Why did Moses and Aaron bring them out to the wilderness to starve to death?
God’s promise
I will rain bread from heaven
Each day the people shall gather what they need for that day
This will be a test, “whether they follow my instruction or not”
On the eve of the Sabbath, they will gather twice as much; so they will not have to labor after food on the sabbath.
Moses and Aaron told the Israelites what God said
Tonight you will know that it was God who delivered you
And in the morning you will see God’s glory
These things God will do because he has heard your complaints
There will be meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning
Meat and bread
In the evening, quails came into the camp
They were all over the place
This was food God had not even said much to Moses about
In the morning, bread covered the ground
The people asked, “what is it?”
Which, in Hebrew, is
!m’ (((mannah)
How to get your bread – your “what is it?”
Gather as much as you need for today, about an omer per each person in your family (about 6.5 pints)
This was new food for them, a new dining experience
Bread from heaven, to them it was manna – “What is it?
Some who probably couldn’t eat a full omer, some might have eaten a little more
Maybe finishing up what was on somebody else’s plate
But the commandment was to take what you need for today
Don’t take more for tomorrow – God will provide then, too
You don’t need to store anything up
But trust in God to provide
In fact, the scriptures tell us that whatever was left aside for tomorrow was spoiled by the next day
God’s provision was enough
And God would always provide
God’s message, “Just take what you need for today, I will provide what you need each and every day”
God even provided for the Sabbath
On the day before, the people were able to gather extra
So they could rest on the Sabbath day
But stockpiling in the other days, just to have extra was punished
Still, some saved some over for tomorrow, in case God forgot
And what they saved was spoiled the next day
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So What?
God provides enough for us every day
“give us this day our daily bread”
Yet, over the ages, we have not always trusted in God’s provision
We tend to store up God’s bounty
Although it’s reasonable for a people to store food and provisions aside
As in storing food up before the harsh winter when harvesting isn’t possible
There are ways like this that are consistent with God’s commandment to the people
There’s a difference in taking in what we need for our family
And storing some away as we need it
One of the Hebrew people’s need was to minimize what they had to carry
They were always on the move, during the wilderness times
So they also trusted in God to be there when they needed God – to provide for them as they travelled
Food is an example …
others
We must use God’s gifts as God instructs us
there is enough for everybody,
but there will be those who take extra rather than trust God for their share, in case God forgets them tomorrow
What does this mean for us today?
God has always promised to remember us and not leave us alone
God already had a plan to feed the Israelites while they were in the desert.
It had already occurred to God that his people would need to eat while they were in the wilderness 40 years
God was patient with the people’s grumbling, and told Moses to go ahead and tell them how the food would come
The manna came every day
God’s promise is fresh and new each day
And there will be enough
The test of faith is, will we trust in God to provide?
We are not altogether unlike the people in the wilderness. There is a teaching that, “If you ask anybody in the church whether they believe that God is the only God, the Creator of the Universe, they will surely answer ‘Of course he is! Everybody knows that!’ But if you ask them if they trust in God alone to provide everything they need, they may be taken a little aback, ‘Sure, but I have something saved up just in case.’
Belief and trust go together. Faith is believing in something you can’t see.
The one who believes completely, trusts completely. But when belief is a little short, so is trust – and faith
So when we believe, that is when we trust in God, we may gather in a day’s portion every day and not worry about tomorrow.
Heard a story about a relief truck that arrived in MS after Katrina
giving out hot dogs
they had enough to give everybody all they wanted that day
the people were taking what they needed right then – there was not stockpiling.
Surely there were some greedy
But most wanted to be sure everybody got something to eat
Will we trust in God to provide? Or will we fall under the myth of scarcity?
Do we take all we can get today, because there might not be enough tomorrow?
Do we take what we need, but resent those who got what they need, too – even the ones we think don’t deserve it?
Do we take extra and store it away, even when we can hear the cries of those who are going without? For this is what spoils our hoarded away portion.
What is it? !m’ That’s what the Israelites called the bread from heaven.
What is it for us?
Is it money, power, privilege, status, etc.?
That is for each of us to decide.
The lesson is, will we take extra just in case God forgets, or will we trust that God will provide the amount we need … every day, and not second-guess God about tomorrow.
So may it be with us. Amen.
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