Going round in circles
Norah Summers
July 21, 2024
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Exodus 16: 1-6 (GNT)
1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. 2 There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron 3 and said to them, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.
Are we nearly there yet?
Well, no. We’re only just past the Red Sea.
We have about another forty years to go…
We have escaped from Egypt, and we are on our way to the Promised Land.
It seems a very long way, and the milk and honey are nowhere to be seen.
Jam tomorrow, but not today, you might say, and not even a piece to spread it on.
See that Moses, who does he think he is?
All right, he fixed the problem with the water at Marah,
and we have had a fine stop at Elim – twelve streams and seventy palm trees.
That was really nice. Could we have stayed there a bit longer? No. On we go.
Now we are in the desert of Sin. Hmm. And there is nothing to eat.
Egypt wasn’t that bad, was it? We had plenty to eat there. Why are we here?
It’s all your fault Moses, you and your ‘Promised Land’.
Where is it? Are we just going round in circles?
Well, another turn of the wheel indeed –
last time, bitter water was made fresh.
Now food is to rain down from above.
Aye, right.
Prayer:
God of the journey,
you took the Israelites on a journey, to a Promised Land, and there was no way straight there.
There were obstacles, trials, difficulties, hard feelings, rebellions.
But you promised and you keep your promises.
Not one of them was for a rose garden, just your eternal presence, your eternal support, your eternal love, as we make our often winding way through life.
We are not always grateful for your mysterious ways, but in the end we shall see the Promised Land.
For you keep your promises. AMEN
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