As I begin this week’s newsletter, I need to print a “retraction” of sorts. During the first service on Sunday, I mistakenly said that when a father holds up the “afikomen” during a Jewish Passover Seder, he says, “This is my body broken for you; take and eat.” The result is that it made it sound like Jesus’ words of institution at the Last Supper. I knew it wasn’t right at the time, but got lost in my notes and kept moving along. The correct phrase is, “This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in the desert. Let all who are hungry come and eat.” While this was corrected for the second service, I did not want to create any confusion for those at the first service or watching at home.
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. -Exodus 16:15
The Israelites had just been released from slavery in Egypt. It was a cause for great joy! But the last echo of their joy had barely faded before they began grumbling. When my children act in that way, I might be quick to call them out on it and remind them of how ungrateful they are. If I were Moses or God, I might say the same kinds of things.
However, that’s not how God responded! God told them, “In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him.” What could have been a threat from God and a promise of judgment was instead a display of God’s glory - a cloud, moonlight meat and morning manna!
God could have sent plagues. God could have hurled hard dinner rolls like hail on their heads. But no. God sustained His people, even in the midst of their grumbling. How often have we seen God’s blessings come to us softly, gently (like manna) - even in the midst of our grumbling? Beloved people, that is a picture of God’s sustaining grace.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. -Exodus 16:15
The Israelites had just been released from slavery in Egypt. It was a cause for great joy! But the last echo of their joy had barely faded before they began grumbling. When my children act in that way, I might be quick to call them out on it and remind them of how ungrateful they are. If I were Moses or God, I might say the same kinds of things.
However, that’s not how God responded! God told them, “In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him.” What could have been a threat from God and a promise of judgment was instead a display of God’s glory - a cloud, moonlight meat and morning manna!
God could have sent plagues. God could have hurled hard dinner rolls like hail on their heads. But no. God sustained His people, even in the midst of their grumbling. How often have we seen God’s blessings come to us softly, gently (like manna) - even in the midst of our grumbling? Beloved people, that is a picture of God’s sustaining grace.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
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