Day 4: Feb. 21

Manna in the Wilderness

from Rolf Svanoe, Bread for the Journey

A young American man was lost in the Australian desert a few years ago. Robert Bogucki, a 33-year-old volunteer fireman from Fairbanks, Alaska, was on vacation in Australia. Robert did some sightseeing and then headed off across the Australian desert “seeking spiritual enlightenment.” The young man was missing something in his life, and he felt that in the wilderness of Australia, he could discover something about himself and about God. After two weeks, his absence sparked an intensive search that ended with his discovery. He had spent some forty days in the wilderness. Robert kept himself alive, eating plants and wildflowers and drinking dirty water. In forty days, he lost 44 pounds. A television crew flying in a helicopter just happened to spot him. On the hour-long flight back to civilization, Robert was asked why he had embarked on the Journey. “I just wanted to spend a while on my own, just nobody else around, just make peace with God, I guess,” he said. Robert said he felt alone in the desert but never believed he was going to die, even when his supplies ran out. “I had the feeling of confidence that God would take care of me,” he said.

After God rescued the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, Moses led them into the wilderness, heading toward Mount Sinai. It was time to learn some important lessons about his God who had rescued them, and what better place than in the wilderness. But the Israelites didn’t like the wilderness. They began to complain. “I’d rather die a slave in Egypt than die of hunger and thirst out here in this godforsaken wilderness. Life may not have been good in Egypt, but at least we had something to eat.” It’s interesting how the story continues. It doesn’t say that God was angry at them or that God scolded them for their ingratitude. It just says that God decided to provide for them. Every morning, the people could go out and collect bread. It was a flaky substance they called manna. In Hebrew, the word manna literally translates, “What is it?” They looked at this strange food and said, “What is this stuff?”

So God provided the Israelites with manna bread, and with manna came a lesson. They were to gather each morning only enough to meet their needs for that day. If they gathered more than they needed, if they tried to store it or hoard it, the manna spoiled---it turned rotten and became worm-infested. This was the lesson they were to learn in the wilderness—to trust God to provide for each day. And when they trusted that God would provide, God was found to be faithful. Manna came each day. They didn’t need to worry about whether or not they had food to eat.

There are two lessons we can learn from the experience of the Israelites. First, trust God to provide for your future. The Israelites didn’t need to worry because God provided what they needed every day. So much of our time is spent worrying about the future—things we cannot control and that eventually we see really don’t matter. To trust in God means that we can be certain that God walks with us and reminds us what is truly important in our life The second lesson is that God will meet your need, not your greed. God didn’t give the Israelites what they wanted; God gave them what they needed. Often times we think that what we want is what we need. But trusting God means that we realize that what we need is very simple. All of our over-the-top desires distract us from being authentic to ourselves.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray for daily bread. He, too, had learned the lessons of the wilderness. But Jesus added a lesson of his own. Our prayer for daily bread is always prayed in community. We don’t ask for my daily bread. Bread is not mine alone. Bread is given by God for the community. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that the whole world may be fed.

This idea is expressed well in this poem:

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say “I.”

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say “My.”

Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for one another;

And when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.

For others are included in each and every plea,

From the beginning to the end of it, it does not once say “Me.”

The lesson of the wilderness is that God promises to meet our needs.