“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 the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3 NIV)
Sitting around in excess doesn’t necessarily indicate favor or blessing. Sometimes physical bounty denotes spiritual insufficiency; even famine conditions for the soul.
“The the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread form 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.”” (Exodus 16:4 NIV)
The Israelites had plenty to eat in Egypt but they also lived enslaved to the Egyptian appetites: power, affluence, false worship. In the wilderness, they had less to eat physically, but their spiritual lives where suddenly far more real; richer and more robust than ever before. They could see God as a cloud before them in the day and a pillar of fire by night. He directed all their ways, protected them and provided for them. The manna and quail and water may not have felt like much when compared to what they had in Egypt but it was enough and it was nutritionally superior, even if the menu remained unchanged.
This morning I woke up to a text from my favorite frugal uncle, warning me of coming inflation. He wisely said “more money in circulation with no more goods and less services = inflation.” I remember enough high school economics to know he’s right and I wonder if we (as a nation) haven’t spent the last few decades in Egypt by pots of meat. Full bellied, but hearts mired in the subtle slavery of power, affluence and false worship. Have we not been stuck in the hamster wheel of the American Dream?
I think about the coming days and speculate: there may be less meat but perhaps we’ll rely on God more? Maybe we’ll come out from under an opulent culture and truly come close to the living God? And won’t He willingly sustain His people as they walk in obedience and follow Him homeward?
“Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked: for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.” (Psalm 37:16 NIV)
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.” (Psalm 37:25 NIV)
Lord, let us not long for the pots of meat served up freely in a pagan country. Help us embrace the way of life that leads us in Your direction. We trust You for daily manna. It may not be a smorgasbord but it will be enough and it will be super-fitted to our soul. We willingly let go of the wealth and idols of Egypt as we follow You out into the wilderness. We know You are going to lead us to the Promised Land. Amen.