Almost a month ago I had surgery on my left shoulder. The reason for the surgery? I was experiencing a sharp pain that would at times double me over. I hurt myself preaching once, which I believe is a sure sign of getting old. This pain would often keep me awake at night and I happen to like my sleep. Surgery seemed to be the answer. After the surgery I was informed that they did not have to repair a tendon, which is great news and seriously cuts down on the recovery time. I was also told that they removed a bone spur which would have eventually caused a tear in the tendon. So, surgery was a good idea. But I am having a rough day today. My shoulder is hurting like the dickens, whatever that means. It would be easy to grumble and complain and forget all about why I had surgery in the first place. It would be easy to forget how bad the pain was pre surgery. And once we hop on the grumble train, it is kind of hard to get off. Especially when we discover a lot of folks on the train with us, all grumbling and forgetting. And when you are on that train, it is kind of easy to develop a skewed view of the past. The sage Billy Joel sang out “The good ol’ days weren’t always so good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems”.
In Exodus 16:1-12 the word “grumble” or “grumbling” is found eight times. The same scene is repeated three times with slight variations. I smell emphasis here. Okay, so the Israelites journey out of the wonderful oasis of Elim and find themselves in the wilderness of Sin, which just sounds ominous doesn’t it? They are most likely somewhere in the southern regions of the Sinai Peninsula. And there in that uninhabited waste land, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron. And in their grumbling they not only forget the whole slavery thing they ridiculously misrepresent their life in Egypt. They paint this picture of themselves sitting around, just kicking back, beside pots full of meat, and eating an abundance of bread. Because, you know, that sounds like how slaves in Egypt were treated. The Egyptians did eat meat, but not every day. And it is a tad outrageous to imagine that they allowed their slaves to just hang out by pots of meat while eating all the bread they wanted. So, this memory is a glorified image of their past. Us humans do that, don’t we? Do you long for the glory days? And what was so great about yesteryear?
Anyway, Yahweh responds by telling Moses that he is going to rain bread from heaven. Their memory is flawed, but Yahweh’s Presence will be even better than their faulty memory. But it will also be a test to see if they will walk in Yahweh’s torah (“instructions”, “directions”). Will they gather only what they need for the day? Will they trust the Lord to provide? Even on the day of not gathering? Again, I believe that God wants them to succeed. Moses and Aaron repeat the message emphasizing that Yahweh had heard their grumbling. They make sure that the Israelites understand that they are, in fact, grumbling against Yahweh. Yahweh brought them out of Egypt, not Moses. It is the Presence of Yahweh that will provide for them in the desert. And because it was part of their grumble, Yahweh will not only rain bread down for them to gather, he will also provide meat for them every evening.
And then Moses instructs Aaron to repeat the message for the third time. The people are told to gather before the face of Yahweh. We do not know how they were intended to do this, but we do know that while Aaron was speaking they turned toward the wilderness and beheld the glory of God in a cloud. And this is what Yahweh desired in this episode of complaining; that they should see his glory; his presence. That they would know that his presence delivered them from Egypt. The way off the grumble train is to focus on the glory of God. In the midst of their fears – and their fears are somewhat justified since they are in a wilderness with no food – they focused their attention not on what God had done for them, but instead on their skewed memory of life before the scary wilderness. So, Yahweh tries to get them to refocus on the reality of his Presence.
When you hop aboard the grumble train, it is easy to get caught up in forgetfulness; to focus on false memories; to turn your attention away from what is truly important. It is the husband who grumbles about his wife, falsely glorifying pre-marital existence. It is the congregation rolling along the tracks all full of complaining about all manner of things, easily forgetting that their existence is all about the glory of God and not their own personal wants or comforts. When you focus on the abundance of God – even when you find yourself in the waste land – it is hard to grumble. Hop on off the grumble train then. Grace, Walter.