Exodus 16:2-15
August 4, 2024
Have you ever brought something home for your family, but when your parents, your spouse or your children looked at it they got this strange, confused look on their face and asked, “What is it?” That phrase can hurt, because even if you explain what it is with great enthusiasm, if they still don’t see how wonderful the item is, you can definitely be disappointed. When I was growing up my dad came home one day and said with great joy, “Look what I got at the store.” My mother, sister, and I looked at it, knowing it was some kind outlet extension, but we couldn’t figure out why he was so happy about it. So we asked, “What is it?” My dad explained that it was a timer that can be used for our Christmas lights outside in the snow. Now he wouldn’t have to go outside at night to turn the lights off or worry about them not functioning properly in the snow. My dad was the one who did the Christmas lights, so we knew why he was excited, but we just did not share in his enthusiasm.
However, sometimes the phrase, “What is it?” can be used in a positive way. If you give a gift to someone and they are not expecting it, they might say something like, “A gift? For me? What is it?”
But there are times when we may question God by using that same phrase or a variation of that phrase when we are frustrated with God, thinking we deserve better. For example, if we are on our way to work in the morning, knowing we have an important meeting to attend, and all of a sudden the traffic on the freeway comes to a standstill, we can easily find ourselves questioning God at the moment by asking, “What is this? Lord, you know I can’t be late.”
The Israelites at the beginning of our Old Testament lesson for today got frustrated with God, thinking they deserved better. In the chapters leading up to our text, the Israelites had been held in slavery in Egypt for over 400 years. Life was miserable until God finally used Moses to free them from the Egyptian Pharaoh, which included parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross to the other side on dry ground. And when Pharaoh and his armies came charging after the Israelites to bring them back, God closed up the waters on Pharaoh and his armies and they drowned. The Israelites were finally free and they praised God. However, several weeks later, when the food the Israelites had brought with them began to run out, they started to complain against God, by asking in a sense, “What is this?” They said to Moses and his brother, Aaron, “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 this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). Keep in mind that the Bible tells us that 600,000 men, in addition to women and children, left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. Biblical scholars have suggested that there may have been 2 million people all together, when you count the women and children. But now they are saying they would rather go back to being slaves in Egypt? Had they forgotten about their years of suffering as slaves in Egypt? Did they not remember how God brought His wrath on the Egyptians through plagues of frogs, boils, hail, and locusts? They had seen God perform a miracle in separating the waters of the Red Sea; did it not dawn on them to ask God for help?
How do you think God felt when He heard those Israelites complain? It probably reminded him of the way teenagers will complain against their parents when they do not get what they want as they say things like, “You don’t love me,” even though the parents have provided them everything they needed and have showered them with love. Or when a child constantly complains on the drive home from the State Fair saying, “You didn’t buy me a stuffed animal,” even though they spent the entire day on the rides, petting animals, and eating popcorn and snow cones. It makes you wonder if it was really worth taking them to the Fair in the first place. So do you think God questioned why He even bothered saving these Israelites? I’m sure Israel’s complaining sounded to God of how we complain. We complain about the rain and the heat, even though that same weather nourishes our gardens and enables fruits and vegetables to grow. We complain about road construction, wondering when it will ever end; when we should be happy that roads are being fixed and constructed to eventually make our travels easier and safer. Life is not perfect, but it could be a lot worse if God did not continually provide for us. Therefore, it’s important that we not lose sight of His blessings.
So how did God deal with those complaining Israelites? In the same way He deals with our complaints, with tremendous love, grace, and mercy. In verse 12 God tells Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” And God provided exactly as He promised, but maybe not in the way all of them expected or wanted. Verses 13-14 tell us that quail came up and covered the camp, so there was the meat for them to eat, and in the morning “a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost was on the ground.” And in verse 15, it says “When the people of Israel saw the fine, flake-like thing, like frost on the ground they asked each other, ‘What is it?’” I wouldn’t be surprised if people asked that question in different tones, with some maybe somewhat disgusted, asking “What is it?” while others may have said something like, “What is it?” indicating a sense of joy that God had provided for them. The last verse of our text tells us that Moses explained that this was bread on the ground that God had provided for them to eat.
This bread then became a real test of faith for the Israelites. In the verses that follow our text, it says that God gave the Israelites, through Moses, some very specific instructions about this bread. Each morning they were to gather as much bread as they needed for their family only for that day. None of the bread was to be stored overnight, except on Fridays when they were to collect enough for 2 days since there would be none to collect on Saturday, which was the Sabbath, the day of rest. Many people followed God’s instructions, but others did not and tried to take extra bread that they would need for the next day. However, that extra bread rotted overnight and the people could not eat it. So for 6 days the people went to bed each night, without any leftovers, trusting that God would provide enough bread for them each morning; and this went on for 40 years.
If you have ever found yourself staring at an empty refrigerator or an empty bank account, wondering how you are going to survive, remember this story, because God will always provide what you need at the right time. You might not get what you want or what you think you deserve from God, but He will provide, even if you are living paycheck to paycheck. After all, isn’t that basically how the people of Israel lived for 40 years? They had to trust that God would provide what they needed every morning.
This bread then serves as a picture of Jesus. In our Gospel lesson from John 6, we heard Jesus explain that just as bread was sent from heaven by God to the Israelites so they could live, so He had come from heaven to feed the world. The difference was that the Israelites who ate the bread in the Old Testament became physically hungry again every morning, but Jesus came to satisfy their spiritual hunger and those who believed in Him, who consumed Him, would never be hungry. Our spiritual needs, namely the forgiveness of our sins, would be satisfied in Jesus.
So how is your hunger for Jesus? As some of the Israelites got tired of eating the same bread from heaven each day, have you or people you know gotten tired of hearing about Jesus? Do you come to worship asking, “What is it, that we’re doing here today? Another sermon, another song about Jesus’ love, kind of boring?” Or are you like the Israelites, who thought they could store some bread for later when they needed it, and so you only want to come to worship or pull Jesus out when you really need Him. I pray that as you are fed His Word this morning and receive His body and blood in bread and wine, that you will say, “What is this, that Jesus would show such love to me every day by forgiving me and providing me exactly what I need.”
