And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exodus 16)
Israel forgot. They forgot their lot in the land of Egypt - that it was not potluck dinners relaxing around the firepit, but increasingly hard slavery around the brick kiln. At the first hunger pang, they whined about being misled and neglected. God's solution? Give them food - all they need, with a twist: see if it is enough, or if they get greedy and try to hoard it. Like we often do. Fear and doubt make us act like God will not give us our daily bread (or manna), and we complain about what we do have and fear that we will not have. May there be less complaining and more praying and trusting as we go through our day, and look to the future, having a realistic perspective on our past. Thank you, Lord.
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