Exodus 16:2-15

In our text this morning, Israel is in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. I believe by now that their supply of food and water is almost gone, and there is no way for them –at least on sight- to replenish it, and they know they still have a long way to go. The possibility of hunger and thirst is real, and they were frightened; Israel was so frightened to the extent that they began hallucinating about the times when they used to sit around the pots of meat and ate all the food they wanted in Egypt. I believe they were hallucinating because there is no proof of this.

They had been on the road for about two and a half months, and many things had happened; God had broken their chains, opened the waters, and destroyed Pharaoh’s army. They had joyfully sung on the other side, “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. 2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” And yet after singing like this, they wanted to go back to be slaves, to make bricks for Pharaoh. They were eager to go back to their old Lord.

A long time ago, I read a comic strip, I am not sure, but I think it was Hagar the Horrible Viking. Hagar was inside a cave above the ground. A tiger was outside trying to get him, but as soon as the tiger was giving up and ready to leave, Hagar always came out, and again, the tiger came back trying to get him. Finally, the tiger gave up and left, and Hagar came out.

I believe it was Helga, his wife, who was watching, told him, you are so silly when the tiger was leaving you always came out. Hagar answers her, yes, I am silly to you because you did not see the bear inside the cave trying to get me.

Sometimes we must be in a person’s situation to understand them better. Therefore, this morning, I am not going to minimize Israel’s problem. Remember, they could not go back to Egypt, even if they wanted to. They were blamed for the death of Egypt’s firstborn and Pharaoh’s army destruction; at this moment, they are on the list of the most wanted of the Egyptian FBI; Canaan is still far; they are of lacking food and water, and the wilderness is big and inhospitable. They are not accustomed to this kind of life. If someone wanted to leave, there was a good reason to do it, and we cannot blame them.

Israel did not want to continue their journey to the Promised Land because they stopped believing in God. No, they wanted to go back because the reality surrounding them was too much for them to bear, and because of this, they stopped looking to the horizon; they stopped looking forward to what God had ahead for them. In a few words, they lost hope, and when we lose hope, we stop looking for God’s Grace and presence around us.

The Hebrews knew they were free, which meant no more violence against them, no more forced work, no more killing of their children, no more whipping, and no more bricks to make. But even though they wanted to go back.  They knew God was with them. They saw His presence in the clouds by day and in the column of fire by night. However, at the same time, they had the uncertainty of Canaan; they had Pharaoh and Egypt on their minds. Canaan and Egypt were in the same valley but extremely opposite directions. To reach one, they had to turn their back on the other.

All this created an emotional battle between the Egypt they knew and the unknown Canaan and made them afraid, regardless of the proven protection God had shown them. Regardless of the power God displayed before them, they kept their sight in their current situation; therefore, they lost sight of the future; they lost the sight of God’s Grace. Their present condition made them forget what God is capable of doing.  

We know how the story ends, they did not return to Egypt, and forty years later, they were established in Canaan. But I have a question: what would have happened if they did not continue their journey to God’s promised land? The answer I believe is obvious: they would have lost the opportunity to know God the way they did; they would have lost the opportunity to be blessed the way they were; they would have lost the opportunity to see God’s hand providing Manna from heaven and water in the middle of the wilderness from a rock. If they would had returned to Egypt, they would have lost the opportunity to receive the law’s tablets. In other words, they would not have been blessed the way they did; they would not have been the people God used to bring the Messiah.

We, the Church of Jesus Christ, is what Paul calls the New Israel, and the reality Israel faced 3500 years ago is still the same reality we face in our journey to our Promised Land. In some states of the country, they are still in the middle of the pandemic, others face protest, and this reality of our journey makes us ask the same questions Israel asked in the wilderness, is God still with us? Why does God allow this to happen? All these are valid questions; questions we must answer not with logic or reason but with Grace. By using this undeserved gift of God. In doing so, we will discover that God does not ignore what is going on in His world; God does not ignore the cry out of His creation. He still is the gracious and loving God who took on human form to reveal God’s ways to humanity.

        And what ways! His answer to Israel’s complaints was Manna from heaven, that is grace! He provided what they needed, not what they deserved. He did it because His heart desires relationships, relationships with his creation, and among men and women. The center of that relationship must be our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have seen God’s grace and provision in the middle of our wilderness during this pandemic. We have seen God in our community protecting and comforting. When our building was closed, we continued being church even when we were not gathered in this building. Some of you made phone calls to check on others. Many families continued sending their offering because their responsibility, gratefulness, and love for God and the church do not depend on how close we are physically but on their commitment to their Lord and Savior. Thank you for allowing God to use you to provide Manna.

Let us always remember, sisters and brothers, that God will show His love and care for us in the wilderness. In the wilderness, if we trust God and wait in Him, He will bring hope out of tragedy, trust out of betrayal, strength out of weakness, and encouragement out of anguish. Such is the wondrous nature of our redemptive God. Such is the extraordinary nature of God’s Grace.