Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 16:4 (New Living Translation)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

This is part of the (hi)story of manna: the food that God gave the people for 40 years while they were in “the wilderness” and would have otherwise dropped dead from hunger. Each day, the people would walk out of their tents and pick up as much food as they needed for the day. One day; one day’s food. A miraculous, life-saving gift every day.

What could be better than that? What could be simpler than that? What could possibly go wrong? Well, plenty could go wrong.

And this gift was a test. God wanted to see if the people could follow simple instructions. Let’s review the instructions, “Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day.”

Hmmm, let’s see… How complicated is that? I mean, if you can assemble a bicycle, you ought to be able to follow those instructions. Right? Wrong. Plenty of the people failed this test (See a later note on “tests.”).

What is wrong with us? God gives us some pretty simple things to do. Love one another. Simple enough, huh? Love God. Simple enough, huh? Why can’t we follow the instructions? Why is it that I have to figure and figure and figure out some way to do something I want that sort of violates the instructions and “voids the warranty?”

The good thing (the GREAT THING), the miraculous thing is God forgives me. The grace of God covers me when I violate the warranty. Thank you God.

Testing: yes, God used the gift as a test for the people. Note: God did this. God does not tell me, “Dwayne, put some tests out there in front of people to see if they live up to your standards and are worthy of coming to God.” It is not my place to “test” anyone else. But I should … nope. But I like to … nope. And nope to that other one as well. Love one another. Simple.