What?! Manna...AGAIN??!!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast:  Ba"manna" Pancakes
Lunch: "Manna" Burgers
Dinner: "Manna"cotti

I belie my age and former associations with those references to Keith Green's "So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt" album, don't I?

After their deliverance from Egypt, it didn't take the Israelites long to begin complaining.  In fact, they had no sooner been delivered from Pharoah's heavy hand than they began with what would become their persistent whine:  "What have you done to us bringing us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?!"

That snake, Moses!  What was he thinking...rescuing them from the house of slavery?  How soon they forgot how heavy were the burdens which the Egyptians laid on them!  They had groaned under the weight of their labor.  They had been beaten and oppressed.  In fact, they had cried out for deliverance!  Not only that...they had just witnessed Yahweh's miraculous plagues on Egypt and had seen themselves spared!

The echo of their first complaint had barely faded before their next arose:  "What shall we drink?"  A few days later, "What shall we eat?  It had been better for us if we had died in Egypt with full bellies than to have you bring us out here to kill us!"  And this after they had just walked through the Red Sea on dry ground for crying out loud!!

This same cry, "Why have you brought us into the wilderness...to die?" becomes Israel's constant refrain.  They continually forget the mighty works they have witnessed and received and they grumble...not only against Moses but against Yahweh Himself.

From where we sit, we scoff at those Israelites, wondering at their foolish and faithless audacity.  It's only with some difficulty that we recognize the same folly in our own hearts.  But...if we try, we probably don't have to look very far.

How easily discontented we are with God's provisions for us!  So much so that they seem like no provisions at all.  In this attitude, we deride what He has purposefully and graciously given.

Sometimes our whines arise simply because we are spoiled brats who think we deserve better than what He has provided.  Afterall, this is NOT what we bargained for.

Other times our complaint arises from fear...fear that the meager portion we have been alloted won't allow us to thrive, and in fact, might even lead to our death!

Yet other times our discontent stems from longing for the seemingly "better" provision of former days.  We have tasted the onions and leeks and garlic and that taste lingers on our palate.  We crave them because we know what we are missing. 

Or do we?  How quickly we forget the burdens that often accompanied days of plenty.  How foolishly we chafe to go back under the yoke of slavery in order to indulge in a luxury or two!

Though the remembrance of and longing for those good things may not in themselves be sin (afterall, there is nothing sinful about loving leeks and garlic!), but accusing God of unfaithfulness in withholding them from us most certainly IS sinful!

What do we do with our fear, our restlessness and our dissatisfaction?

First of all, we must repent of the unbelief that led to our angry accusations of God.  We must remember that our Lord's eyes are on us, His ears open to our voice, and His intentions toward us are favorable! 

Even in the scarcity of the wilderness, we must remember that He is bringing us to a land of plenty...a land flowing with milk and honey.  He has promised and therefore we must believe!

Then we must shore up our hearts in faith. Remember and meditate on the mighty works which He has already performed on our behalf and the behalf of His people for all generations past!

And then we must trust.  In the words of Psalm 37, we must "Trust in the Lord...feed on faithfulness...commit your ways to Him and He will act...delight yourself in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart...be still and wait patiently for Him...keep His way and He will exalt you to inherit the land!"  Those are no small duties, but they are no small promises either.

We must feed our desires, our longings, our hunger, with His faithfulness, knowing that we have not been - and will NOT be - forsaken or left begging.  The desires of our hearts will one day be met with an abundance beyond what we can ask or imagine.  Granted, it may not be in this lifetime, but the lack we experience now is not worthy to be compared to the fullness which will be ours in the presence of Christ.

Quench the rebellion of murmuring discontent and don't go back to Egypt!  Trust me.  I've tried it and the enslavement was just as burdensome and unprofitable in subsequent visits as it was the first time around!

Repent.  Believe.  Remember.  Trust.

You won't regret it.