22.10.06 Colin Grace and complaining Exodus 16
Back
The
way we react as individuals to the things that life throws at us says
a lot about the kind of people we are.
You will have experienced many times people you know who have risen above the terrible circumstances they face and still manage life positively and thankfully. I remember one old lady I knew who lived in a very poor and shabby house - she was almost blind and largely incapacitated - yet she was still cheerful and positive and able to trust in God despite all her circumstances.
On the other hand, you will also have met those who seem to go through life with a permanent chip on their shoulder – almost no matter their circumstances they have a complaining and negative view of life.
Most of us, I guess, have both these positive and the negative characteristics at various points in our life. The Israelites in today’s reading from Exodus demonstrate some of the negative responses of human nature. They have just been rescued from enslavement when God miraculously parts the sea to allow the Israelites to cross and escape the pursuing Egyptians, freeing them from slavery which had lasted for many generations. And, the people of Israel are ecstatic in their praise for God singing (in chapter 15 verses 1-2) “I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God and I will praise him, my father’s God and I will exalt him”
But then, within days of that great rescue of the Israelites from enslavement, chapter 16 verse 2 tells us that “the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron … and said to them “would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt … for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger”
As the human leaders of the people of Israel, Moses and Aaron must have been pretty hacked of! By following God’s instruction, they have magnificently led the people of Israel to freedom. Yet, in the days immediately following their great celebration of God’s goodness in freeing them, the people are murmuring against Moses because of the quality of the water. God deals with that, but again, just a few days later, “the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron”.
I wonder whether Moses and Aaron felt like telling them a few home truths! Perhaps they might have wanted to say to the people of Israel something like: ‘For goodness sake stop complaining! God rescued you from slavery and sorted out our drinking water problem. Why don’t you learn from this and stop complaining and just obey God’s commands and statutes and things will be fine’.
But God’s response to the whingeing of the people of Israel is not the kind of response that a human leader might make. Instead, he provides each day manna and quails for His people and gives them instructions about how to manage this. Yet, even after their rescue from slavery, even after the provision of clean water for them, even after providing them with their food each day, the people of Israel disobey and do not listen to Moses who had told them what God asked (verse 20) and disobey God by going out to look for manna (verse 27).
What a perverse bunch this people of Israel are! God rescues them and feeds them, but their reaction is only positive when things are going their way. Otherwise they complain bitterly about their circumstances.
This story in Exodus 16 is however is mostly about God’s grace rather than the complaining nature of the people of Israel. The fact that the people of Israel were not able to live up to the rules, and expectations for membership in the community of Israel does not influence the way in which God deals with them. Humanly speaking, we might have expected gratitude for all that God has done for them. We might have logically expected it reasonable for the people of Israel to be thankful and to obey, given all that God has done already. But God’s response is one of grace, which does not necessarily depend on obedience. His love is freely given to the people of Israel and not dependent on a warm response from them. The grace God demonstrates to the people of Israel illustrates for us that a relationship with God is not just about “Obey and all will be well”, important though that is.
This seems to fly in the face of many of the ways that we think of as human beings about what is right and just in life: goodness should be rewarded and badness punished; obedience rewarded and disobedience punished; conformance to society’s rules rewarded, non-conformity merely tolerated.
God’s grace sneaks up around the side of our human certainties about the way we think that life should be organised and behind the back of institutional norms and humanly self-authorized certainties:
God’s grace reaches out, even to the disobedient and the complainers and says “guess what, there’s enough for you too. It’s alright, have something to eat.”
God’s grace reaches out even when it is not deserved;
God’s grace reaches out to the outsider in society (and even to the broken down or failing insider) offering his sustaining love and grace to all who commit themselves in Christ to a relationship with God.
The good news of Israel’s story – is that it resists simplistic claims like “just obey the rules and you will be saved.” Instead, this Exodus story from God’s point of view is a kind of parable about His grace and provision to the people of Israel, despite their disobedience and unfaithfulness. There is a promise in this story of God’s provision and goodness for His people, despite our disobedience and unfaithfulness. His grace challenges our often legalistic certainties and carefully constructed views about how we think life should be, into something much more liberating and life giving which is determined only by the unlimited generosity of God’s grace.
The way we react as individuals to the things that life throws at us says a lot about the kind of people we are. No matter how we have responded, let us today and during this week, prayerfully reflect on our own life and bring it before God. Each of us will remember:
times when we have responded inappropriately to situations we have faced;
times when we have doubted God’s presence or support;
times when we have not lived up to the expectations of others;
times when others seem to disapprove of the way we lead our life;
times when we have failed and times when we have done things which were just plainly wrong.
And, as we lay before God the kind of person we have been and are, let’s remember His grace. The same grace he so wonderfully demonstrated in his dealings with the people of Israel on their journey through the wilderness.
As members of the Body of Christ, God accepts us for who we are just now, and through His wonderful grace, works with us to develop more each day the loving likeness of Christ our Lord.
For that encouragement, for the promise of God’s grace to us day-by-day let us thank God as we journey on in faith in those days when we experience both wilderness as well as blessing.