A Day's Portion, Every Day

The book of Exodus, found in the Old Testament, is an account of the deliverance of the children of Israel from the greatest superpower of that time, Egypt. I certainly have read Exodus before but at this time in my life's journey, as scripture is prone to do, portions of the text stand out to me that perhaps had not in readings gone by. This morning some simple words caught my eye - "a day's portion, every day". The setting in my reading currently is that after the parting of the Red Sea (Ex. 14) and after a miracle of bitter water being made sweet (Ex 15:22-24) - the children of Israel started to complain about what they perceived as a threat of starvation in the wilderness (Ex 16:2-3). In response to that, God said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion, every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in  my law or not" (Ex 16:4).

Personally my life has had some significant challenges. Some of those have been due to the actions of others, some have been challenges created by actions of my own. Coupled with my age and life's expectations, the portions of Exodus that relate to a process in life, and most especially in the process of deliverance, are the portions I am meditating and reflecting on.

In the book of Exodus, Moses was the man God had chosen to deliver the children of Israel. Born at a time of grave danger from being killed by Pharaoh, he was miraculously taken into the home of Pharaoh's daughter and raised in the palace. Moses feels the call towards his people as a grown man but stumbles in his actions to help a Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian and Moses has to flee. By the account in Acts 7, Moses was in the land of Midian, where he had fled, for 40 years. And God has been hearing the cry by the Hebrews for rescue from slavery for years and years, they had been in the land of Egypt for 430 years, and it was Moses he had chosen to lead them out.

After Moses encounters the Lord in a burning bush and finally approaches Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go (there are two chapters of that process, chapters 3 and 4) Moses approaches Pharaoh to let them go and...Pharaoh makes it even harder for the Hebrews. The people turn to Moses, and his brother Aaron and basically say, thanks for nothing! (Ex 5:21). Moses turns to God and then accuses God of doing evil to the Hebrews and not doing what He had promised. (Ex 5:22)

I could list all the events of the apparent stop-go process and challenges of the deliverance but I suggest that the reader take the time to read the book of Exodus for themselves, and I will get on to the "day's portion, every day" reason I write this.

Through the walking away from slavery and walking towards "the Promise Land" process, challenges to the human will and motivations are repetitive in the story of Exodus. Fear and danger are real problems experienced by the Hebrews, yet God never takes it all away. He doesn't transport them quickly to a place of rest with no challenges. No, they are faced with a void of security. They had left behind what was familiar, even though it was slavery, for the unknown but with a promise. Every day was an unknown. And when it came time for food to be provided them, it was not given in over-abundance, it was given as provision. And that is where I ended my reading today, thinking about the effort needed spiritually to live like that, and still have rest and peace in God. When you don't see the provision for tomorrow, what do you do? When you haven't arrived yet at where you are going, and you know the process most likely won't be over soon, what do you do?  They had to walk on and believe every day. The process was to test them, whether they would obey God. God had said to them that they needed to diligently listen to His voice. As believers, that is our challenge, in challenges, day by day, every day.