Remember

Enough is enough. Is the Lord among us or not? That is what the Israelites wanted to know. They had been rescued from Egypt. They had traveled through Marah but couldn’t drink the water so the Lord made it sweet. Then they came to an oasis of Elim (eeluhm) with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. But now they were in the wilderness of Sin, a wilderness within a wilderness you might say, and there were no palm trees or springs. In fact, there was no food to be found anywhere. They were hungry. Really hungry. So hungry that they began to reminisce about their oppressor Egypt. When you are desperate, you seem to forget the misery before. Kinda like that one restaurant where the food was really bad but you are starving and think you should try going back. It won’t be so bad this time you think. At least in Egypt we were full of bread they say, but not here. Has God just brought us out here so we can starve? Enough is enough.

It is easy for us with full bellies to sit and read these pages and judge their complaining, but let’s not be too hasty. They had endured generation upon generation of slavery. As they say, you can take the Israelites out of Egypt but it takes longer to take Egypt out of the Israelites. They had endured years upon years of a scarcity mindset, of hoarding and not enough. They are in the desert. Not delta soil suitable for farming. No flowing waterfalls. No animals that they can hunt it seems. And they wonder “how can we trust God to provide for us when we don’t see any evidence? How can we trust God’s provision in times of scarcity, in the midst of our own wilderness within a wilderness?

God responded to their complaining with compassion. He gave them manna in the morning and quail in the evening. Man-huh?We don’t fully understand what manna was made of, but it is described like a find frost that they would gather up and make bread with. I think of it kind of like the texture of freshly sifted flour. And then quail in the evening. Maybe manna and quail wouldn’t be your preferred diet of choice for 40 years but as Beth Tanner points out, “in the ancient world, the average family ate meat only on festive occasions. But in this non-producing arid land, the people not only received meat, but did so on a daily basis.” Manna and quail here are not only a sign of God attending to the physical hunger of the Israelites but doing so in a way that is above and beyond their expectations. Picture your favorite meal appearing in the desert out of nowhere. Not old ingredients but perfect portions there for you every day. This was like the original fast food.

But here is the catch. The people were instructed to gather only what they needed for themselves that day, gathering extra on the sixth day for the Sabbath. If they gathered more than they needed and tried to hoard it up, it would spoil. Grace isn’t meant to be hoarded. Greed will always spoil the riches of grace.

Walter Brueggemann talks about how we are in a food fight between two mindsets:one of aggressive accumulation and another of shared, grateful abundance. Aggressive accumulation is driven out of the fear that there won’t be enough. And the more we accumulate, the more we worry about running out. Brueggeman says “The scarcity narrative dominates our culture. The scarcity narrative will never permit healthy, safe community because it’s designed to keep us insecure.”

God wanted them to know that Yahweh wasn’t like the emperor. “The enslaved people of Egypt had to move from an economy of fear and deprivation to one of provision in the wilderness. They had to move from the hoarding mindset of the Egyptians to the enoughness provided by God.” Walter Brueggemann calls this the move from “the endless rat race of sufficiency to living with enough.”

But God is giving Israel another narrative, not one built on fear but one rooted in trust in God. Grace isn’t meant to be hoarded. Greed will always spoil the riches of grace.

When God provides, enough really is enough. The Israelites were only meant to collect enough. And collecting enough or just what you need for today is an act of trust. Taking more than they needed or trying to store it up was like saying “I trust you today God, but in case you don’t provide tomorrow, I’m gonna be prepared.”

But then God asked them to do something interesting with the manna. He asked them to put some in a jar and keep it so that the Israelites would see it in their worship as a sign of remembrance for what God had provided for them.

In the midst of their worship they kept a visual reminder of God’s provision. Juliana Classens says “God graciously offers all that the Israelites need — a theological conviction we profess every time we sing the doxology “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Indeed, we are reminded in Exodus 16 that there is a close association between the gracious gift of the manna and the glory of God that appears as a sign of God’s presence (verse 10). It is in God’s gracious blessings that we experience that God is with us.”

We start this series remembering of how much God has provided for us. How has God been present in your life, offering you “manna and quail” in times of desperation and fear? Today there is a Jewish tradition of singing a song called Dayenu (dahyaynew) during Passover. It is a song that recounts all God has done through the Exodus and leading the Israelites to the Promised land. Each verse begins with “If he had only done..... and ends with dayenu (it would have been enough). The Hebrew memory around dayenu is the vision of contentment and trust in the enoughness of God’s goodness.

Are we aware of the the enoughness of God, the moments of manna and quail, or do they pass us by in our quest for more? Brueggemann calls the enough nature of God as finding the “lyric of abundance” over the song of scarcity. Every week when we gather we pray for manna in saying “give us this day our daily bread.

Manna and quail may not be falling from the sky for you. I am also not denying that food insecurity is a real thing and that there are many who live in hunger. This prompts us to consider how we can offer up manna for others. Along the same lines, are you able to recognize when God sends you manna? What form has the manna of God taken for you this week? When has God provided more than enough in the midst of your wilderness?

Over the years, I have seen manna take on many flavors. Manna has met me in cups of coffee shared with friends in their home. It has met me in pickled okra and crackers sitting in a boat watching the sunset on Pickwick lake. It has met me in laughter over chocolate candy and in tears over tea. It has also fallen fresh in kind words, in reminders that I am not alone, and in phrases like “I hear you” or “I understand.” David Whyte says “people are hungry, and one good word is bread for a thousand.” Manna has met me in the melody of giggles, the hymns of our faith, and the witness of the faithful. And in those moments, I am thankful and say “it is enough.”

So go into this week seeking God, the daily Bread, day after day after day/

And may you find that it is enough. Enough to sustain you. Enough to share.