When was the last time you had to plan for a big trip? Maybe it was a business trip or even a vacation. One of the most stressful parts of these sorts of trips is the preparation. Nobody wants to be far from home and remember that they don’t have an essential component for their plans. So we create lists, or we review our bags over and over again in hopes of preventing such a situation. But even if we should forget an article of clothing, some soap, or even another item, we live in such an age where we could immediately purchase something nearby or via the internet.
But what if we couldn’t? What if a wandering somewhere new entailed the possibility of being entirely without something we might need? The Israelites after the Exodus embarked on a great journey away from Egypt, but there were some practical obstacles ahead. Today I want us to look at some ways in which God provided for His people when they were found without some of their essentials, including faith.
The Bible contains several passages that display God’s repeated hand of provision. In one sense, the stories of God providing for Israel in the wilderness are a great testimony of His power and fatherly care for them. Whether it be the bitter waters sweet (Exodus 15:22-27), the provision of bread from heaven called manna (Exodus 16), or the water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7), each showed to Israel then, and readers today, the character of our glorious God.
These three stories also reveal to us the depths of distrust, pride, idolatry, and unbelief from Israel. Later, writers in the Old and New Testament considered these moments of God’s faithful provision as evidence of His kindness in spite of their failures.
Psalm 78 recounts in poetic form the failure of Israel in these earlier days. Listen to how Scripture described them. “They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.” (Psalm 78:11) If you continue further the psalmist marked God’s provision and its pitiful reception by the people. “He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.” (Psalm 78:15-17)
What about the manna, that heavenly bread? Psalm 78 illustrated God’s works and Israel’s reception of this “bread of the angels” (Psalm 78:25). The bread from heaven came to a people who did not trust God. Psalm 78:18-19, “They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness? …. Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath.” (Psalm 78:18-19, 21) These summaries are a trustworthy testimony to us of how our ingratitude and faithlessness can corrupt even the most powerful gifts and evidence of God.
Time and time again the provision of God in the wilderness shows us both His righteousness and grace. The righteousness of God is displayed in His holy wrath against the consistent grumbling of the people. Later in the psalms, we receive this commentary about Israel, “They believed his words; they sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.” (Psalm 106:13-15) The balance between God’s provision and justice is striking (cf. Nahum 1:3).
Thankfully the Bible provided its own application for these stories in the Old and New Testament. In Psalm 95, when recounting the failure of this wilderness generation, we are warned, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Psalm 95:8) After quoting this very passage, Hebrews 3:7-19 warns us as Christians today not to fall into the same sin of unbelief. Unbelief takes the promises and words of God and considers them as insufficient. As Christians, every word of God is precious to us and our life. Apart from Him, we can do no good thing. Apart from His promises we have nothing. The warnings which abound in Scripture about this wilderness generation are not only meant to remind us that the God whom we serve is the same one of whom David wrote,” You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” (Psalm 23:5) But also, we learn to treasure His ordinary provision in the Lords’ Table whereby God feeds us with the body and blood of His Son who is “the true bread from heaven” and declared “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:32, 55) May we therefore not grumble or whine at our Father’s provision both in our ordinary bread and our heavenly bread in the sacrament. May we rejoice that by faith we have been made “partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood.” (BCP 1662, Holy Communion Liturgy)