Scripture: Exodus 16:1-18
Dear Church,
“Gather as much as each of you needs”
Those were the instructions that Moses gave the children of Israel on the night before God fed them with manna–the bread of heaven. There’s a lot to ponder in this story. The people were in a strange place. They couldn’t take care of themselves. They were worried and angry and attacking their leaders. They were longing for a past that never existed, and they couldn’t see any future but death. And then the ground around them was covered with a strange mysterious substance that God told them was the bread of heaven. The people tried it and found that it tasted like honey.
SO. MUCH. TO. UNPACK.
But in these first days of their new life as freed people chosen to be salt and light and a source of blessing to all nations on earth, God slipped in an economics lesson.
God, always a generous provider, opens the storerooms of heaven and pours out goodness to the people. Bread everywhere–they don’t have to harvest it, bake it or buy it. There isn’t a catch, but there is a non-negotiable way to use it:
Gather each day, for that day.
Everyone gets what they need
Everyone gets to rest.
This is God’s economy. God’s instructions for handling God’s abundance. Because God isn’t just feeding the people here. God is also re-forming them as a peculiar, holy people who won’t live like all the other nations.
And God is still reforming God’s people. I hope you’ll join me as we submit and surrender once again to God’s strange and holy way.
Peace,
Pastor Kate
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