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Holy Manna - November 7, 2021

Exodus 16
Let’s talk about miracles for a moment.

What IS a miracle?
The Merriam Webster Dictionary provides this information:
1. An unusual or wonderful event that is believed to be caused by the power of God.
2. A very amazing or unusual event, thing, or achievement 1

Today’s scripture has two very significant events in the story. The provision of manna and the provision of quail. Significant and life-changing,

life-sustaining even, but miracles? Let’s see what we think in a moment or two.

Are the quail a miracle? Well, probably not their existence, and archaeological evidence says probably not a miracle in that location.

Is the manna a miracle? The Hebrew word translated here as “manna” literally means “what is this?” Scientists have described finding several substances that could be a manna-like natural occurrence. So maybe it is not a miracle.

Should we however be too hasty to brush the miraculous essence away from this? Maybe the quail and manna are not miracles, but before we accept that as fact perhaps we need to look at another part of the story.

The manna started, on God’s command, as a promise fulfilled to the people who were grumbling as their resources from Egypt were depleted. No record of it occurring anywhere before that. AND it appears for the people days 1 through day 6, but not on the 7th. Really? The same 6 days of a seven-day week, but never on the seventh day. And always enough on the 6th day to gather enough for two days. And any other day that someone gathered 2 days' worth the remaining part was found to be rotten and full of maggots. Really? Yes really. And the manna fell until the people entered the promised land of Canaan 40 years later. Then no more. Really? Yes, really.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle) 1

That is the miracle.

The miraculous thing in this provision is not what is provided necessarily, although there does appear to be a balance of protein and carbohydrate if you are into that kind of detail. The miraculous thing, the “commanded by God” thing has more to do with the provision at the right time, at an oddly predictable interval, and for an extended period of time. From this point on in the wilderness journey, the people would never need to wonder where the next meal would come from. God was in control of the details, and God provided the details to Moses to share with the people.

Remember when we looked at the part of the story that explained how a journey that should take 6 days ended up taking 40 years? Because God had a plan and God’s plan was not a direct, expedient way. God planned to work with the people to build up the faith of the people in following God every day along the way. The journey was one of teaching the people to listen to God and to trust in God above all else.

This part of the wilderness story is also a part of the plan of God. God promised to provide and all the people had to do was to trust God’s plan and follow it as God commanded them to do.

Moses told the people that God had said how much manna to gather and how often to gather it. The Israelites were to gather only enough for one day and not to save any. Yet some chose their own way rather than God’s.

“However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. …” (vs. 20)

Moses told the people that God had said to gather a double portion on the 6th day in order to observe a day of rest just as God had done at creation. Yet some of the people chose not to believe in God’s plan and went out to gather manna on the 7th day and found none. God said to Moses:

“How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” (Vs 28b-29)

Perhaps it is human nature to not trust, even at times to not trust God for something as simple as daily provision of food and sustenance.

I believe that the purpose of the provision of the manna and the quail in the wilderness was to put the people to a test.

Do you believe God will provide?
Will you trust God to provide?
Will you obey God in even the small things?
Will you be just with others, and only gather what you need, making sure others have what they need?

Another way of looking at this is can we trust God to have a plan for us, without inserting our plan?

Can we believe that God is that powerful?
Can we believe that God cares that much not just for some but for all?

I believe those are the questions God has for us today as well

Do we trust God in all things?
Do we turn over to God the decisions, both large and small for our lives?
Do we spend time listening rather than talking, sharing rather than holding things close, and trusting rather than walking our own daily path?

Before we turn the page on this story and go to another next week, we need to return to the concept of miracle. Is this a miraculous story? I believe it is. I can read all of the theories about what manna was or why the quail appeared each evening.

But no artifact of research can change my mind on this one thing: these people, who have been saved and rescued out of servitude in Egypt, who have been led through the parted waters on dry land, and who have been guided by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day no more deserved the gift of manna and quail than you and I do. Yet that is the miracle:

To a grumbling and quarreling group of people, God extended the kind of grace that only comes from God. These people did not earn this gift. These people did not deserve this gift. This daily provision was a free gift from God: which in contemporary theology is the definition of “Grace” — a free gift from God, unearned and unmerited.

Over and over again the people will fail to follow the commands of God given through Moses to the people. Over and over again the people will choose their own way rather than God’s. And God will be disappointed at times, and even angry with the people. And God will again extend the gift of grace, hoping again for obedience and trust.

The miracle is that God continues to give to each of us that gift of grace, no matter how much we try to set out own path, no matter how often our self-determined plans fail, and no matter how far away from God we may end up on this journey. God continues to give us grace and mercy overflowing, whether it is measured in the biblical omer or a lifetime of trial and error on this journey of life.

Grace. Manna from heaven. That is what God wants to give to us.

Trust. Obedience. That is what God wants from us.

Let us pray: God of all wilderness journeys, you created us to be in a loving relationship with you, but in the garden, we chose to determine our pathway. We wander at times far from you but never so far that you don’t call us back to you and your pathway and plan. In the days and years of our lives, we have experienced your grace in ways too many to count, and still, we wander. Embrace us once again with your love and mercy and extend to us today your grace. Help us to listen to you, to discern with you the way you want us to go, and to follow you all the days of our lives. Thank you for your grace today and always.

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