For many years I’ve read through the Bible, starting on January 1st with Genesis1 and finishing on December 31st with Revelation22. As I think that the Bible is important I feel I should read it all – not just the well-known, comfortable or easy bits.
Exodus is the story of 80 year old Moses.
Yesterday Israelites cross the Red Sea and Egyptians lie dead on the shore. Moses and the Israelites have community singing, praising their victorious God. Moses’ sister Miriam, who must be 90, sings a solo, dances and plays her tambourine…
Today’s Exodus16 seems so relevant…
Grumbling: The Israelites are hungry and homeless in the desert. Life’s tough so they grumble… Life is tough for many: we think it’s OK to blame someone, complain and be grumpy.
Golden age: They look back and wish they were living in Egypt… We look back to normality, to a better life: whether a golden age really existed or not it doesn’t help to go back there… we are where we are!
Glory: The ‘glory of the Lord’ appeared in a cloud. Eyes are lifted above the physical to see the spiritual… We look with blinkered eyes at the problems around us and fail to remember the spiritual and the positive.
Giving: God responds to their concerns and complaints; that evening there’s quail to eat, the following morning there’s ‘manna’… Taught to ask for our ‘daily bread’ we have what we need for today.
Gathering: Although the Israelites were given what they needed they had to collect it… We’re given what we need; we may need to take action to receive it.
Gratitude: I don’t read of their gratitude: Moses is coping with his leadership problems, the people just take what they need… We can be so anxious about our problems, so focused on today’s needs, we forget to be grateful.
…I look forward to what I might be taught tomorrow…
malcolmsmusings.org 