I missed writing about day 4 here, but I did read it and think on it. It was about the Burning Bush and Moses and paying attention. That particular lesson to pay attention is something I’m working on and I think I’m on my way to understanding more of what that means for me and my future.
Day 5 is something I think I’ve got a mild handle on in the first place so I feel a little better. I say “mild” because the reality is that I suffer from this from time to time. The title in the devotional is “The Bread God Has Given” and if you haven’t guessed already it is the lesson from Exodus 16:9-16 where we meet Moses and Aaron (my namesake) as the people of Israel are complaining.
Mind you they had just broken free from Egypt and the horrifying slavery that they had endured.
Israel is a funny duck in the Old Testament at least to me. You feel for God at times when you wonder why he hasn’t sent lightening bolts down on their at times wacky logical decisions. And yet you realize when you take a moment that the Power of Love of God can be a blinding and powerful thing that cannot be stopped. God loved (and still does) the people of the nation of Israel and despite all their pratfalls and stumbles He loved them unconditionally. Mind you as The Old Testament God he was prone to punish those that deserved it so it was more of a tough love situation.
He loved them so much that even though they whines, moaned, complained and threw fits he still provided for His people in their time of need. God never gave up on them through it all and he hasn’t given up on the rest of us either. He loves us very much. And what Moses, Aaron and the wandering hoard needed to learn was that sometimes enough is just that…enough.
I recently bought an IPOD touch. At 200 dollars, it wasn’t cheap. But I had saved. It was going to help me exercise and do all these great things. And for awhile it did. Then it got stolen. I looked everywhere. It was gone.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve come to realize that I didn’t need it. I had enough as it was. I have enough. I don’t need anything more. If anything I need to get rid of some of the stuff I have. Coming to that realization at 27 years of age is a funny thing. And it hearkens right back to the wandering group of Israel. They wanted more. God told them they didn’t need it. And yet some still did and the manna rotted. This was a lesson for the people and I’m sure they quickly learned what it meant to have the bread that God had given. He gave enough for them to live and pursue Him.
In the end they did this for forty years until reaching The Promised Land. Then my namesake did something ugly stupid. And the whole “learn a lesson by messing it up” started again for Moses and his people. Many lessons are taken from the toils and troubles of the Israelites in the Old Testament. From wanting Kings to worshiping the wrong things and back again they never seem to understand that God had given them just enough.
And it was enough. Today everyone learns that lesson sooner or later. I’m just glad my moment came at 27 and not 40 and beyond.
