Exodus 16:2-4;9-15.               Survival in the desert of life!!                     5/8/12

 (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.

(10)  While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud. {11} The LORD said to Moses, {12} "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'" {13} That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. {14} When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. {15} When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

 Why God? Why have you allowed this thing to happen to me? [Whatever it may be] Life never used to be this tough. In fact way back then, we had so much good going for us; and now you are making life a real struggle. As life goes on this seems to be more and more the case for many of us; life seems harder and tougher. So on go the grizzles and grumbles.

 Here we need to recognise and say, yes, life is tough as we face a far from perfect world. It can at times seem as if life is a real desert; a desert where it can be hard to survive. Particularly as we try to live as Christians in an unchristian world. But that is life; and we as sinful human beings have made it that way.

 Now in our text we see that the Israelites had their desert experiences also. There between Egypt and the Promised Land they had many a struggle; many a difficulty. Just as we have in our lives between our baptism and our promised eternal home. For them and for us there is that constant reality of sin and grace at work in our lives.

 For the Israelites we can see that quite clearly. God rescued them from a hopeless situation in Egypt and led them toward the Promised Land. But to get there they had to pass through the desert region. There we see that many times they failed to look to God and his grace, but turned away from him, and grizzled and grumbled. They wanted what they wanted, and when things didn’t go the way they thought it should they quickly turned against God. We see it come out here in this reading; when things got a little difficult they straight away got things out of proportion. Their problems, though small, were blown up in their minds to be so big and tragic. They had difficulty finding food and water, so that straight away they started complaining.

 It was there that they began to idolize the past. They forgot the slavery and how they were on the road to extinction as a result of Pharoah’s hardness against them. In its place they started to think of those as the good old days; the good old days where they sat around the campfire, and enjoying the best of life. Why couldn’t they still be living back there, instead of slowly and painfully suffering out here in the wilderness? So in their minds things became distorted; and they forgot how terrible things really were and how God had miraculously set them free from the powerful Egyptians, and how time and again he had provided for them in the desert.

 Now if we think about that, this sounds an all too familiar tale, doesn’t it. So often this could be written about our own lives today. We are as bad at forgetting and complaining as the Israelites were; and maybe we are even worse. In our journey through life we find much to grizzle and complain about. We too forget the realities of the past and idolize its good points, and fail to remember all that our great God has and continues to do for us. We also want what we want and grizzle when we can’t have it.

 Let us here now for a few moments get to thinking beyond ourselves and our wants and listen to the real point of our text. God here instead of turning his back on the grizzling and grumbling of an unthankful people, he helps them even more. He continues to show his power, love and mercy, and at the same time seeks to train them to look to him a little more: he ensures that they get enough food for each day. So he rains down a bread-like substance called manna. Manna that would only keep for one day, except for their day of rest; there he provides a way for it to last for two days. What a grand display of God’s provision. He gives them enough each day for what they need and no more. [I wonder how we would handle that.]

 Their journey through the wilderness was supplied with enough bread and quail for the whole time. Their clothes and shoes did not wear out. For forty years they were amazingly provided for by this great God who had rescued them from extinction. There surely was no need for them to grizzle and grumble any longer. Now their God had given them a constant reminder of his wonderful provision.

 Here the Lord their God continues to fulfil his promise to his people even though they were wayward. Throughout their history we see how he continued to give to them the necessities of life, and he provided through miraculous means and the not so miraculous. But at the same time he does not give them too much so that they forget him and his goodness toward them. Many times however, because they forgot and took it all for granted, and looked again elsewhere, he had to bring hard times on them so that they could again remember who is of central importance in life.

 Here today we need to recognise also that our Lord is here for our good, and that he seeks to provide us with our needs and not necessarily our wants. He gives to us what we require in order for us his people to survive our journey from our baptisms to our eternal home. Not too much that we forget him, [although I wonder if that is not what is happening to us here in this country] and not too little that we fail to get through.

 Through his provision, both physically and spiritually, he wants us to know that he is loving and gracious toward us: he seeks to train us to look to him and trust him, rather than ourselves: to follow his instructions as we find it in God’s Word, the Bible: To seek his care and will rather than look to the things of this world: To seek first his kingdom and his righteousness rather than our self-righteousness.

He wants us not to work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. Time and again throughout the Scriptures he reminds us not to place too much emphasis on the physical aspects of life, but to see that the spiritual life is of utmost importance. We need to lift our eyes beyond what we see around us and recognise that the Lord our God has and continues to provide us with all that we need in order to survive the journey through this life to our Promised Land.

But most importantly he went even further, in giving us the greatest provision of all; “the bread of life.” The true bread from heaven that gives full satisfaction. Not bread that will go stale and mouldy, but that which continues to be vital and invaluable throughout our years. In fact, bread that enables us to live forever: to live forever with our great and loving God.

 In the gift of this “bread of life” our greatest need has been taken care of: we are now free from slavery to sin, death and the devil: free from the burden that guilt places on us, and the barrier that it puts between us and God. We are forgiven fully and freely by this ‘bread from heaven.’ As we receive this bread at the Communion Table that pronouncement of forgiveness is made, and so we have been filled with that food that satisfies to the full.

 Then as we continue to look to him, we are filled with his goodness and are strengthened and preserved for the journey ahead. Then we are encouraged to go forward confidently knowing that we have with us the one who truly is the Lord our God. Who assures us again and again that no matter what happens to us along the way he has provided us with that which gives eternal life. So we can confidently know that our salvation has been taken care of: the Promised Land is there for us, and in particular for the glory of the one who has done so much for us: the One who is all important; the Lord our God.

 What a great God we have! What joy it is to again hear how he loves, cares and provides for us throughout life. Let us then go from here today trusting in him alone; looking to his Son Jesus Christ at all times. And let us be satisfied with his life-giving provision as he gives us all we need in order to survive in the desert of life; for our journey to the Promised Land. Let us not look beyond that which our Lord would have for us, for our wants rather than our needs; but always look to Jesus Christ and there in him find our provision and our joy. Again, to him be glory and honour now and always. AMEN.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish