Thursday of the first week of Advent: Into the wilderness with Moses

Presence

“Be still and know that I am God”. (Psalm 46:10) Lord, may Your Spirit guide me to seek Your Loving presence more and more. For it is there I find rest and refreshment from this busy world.

Scripture

Exodus 16:3

“If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Reflection

The journey of Moses described in the Book of Exodus took 40 years. In a blaze of glory, he led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. Their years under a cruel oppressor ended with the first Passover, and they crossed the Red Sea on dry land. But by the time they were well into the desert, they had had enough of privations. They wanted to return to slavery in Egypt, saying bitterly to Moses, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
The miseries of slavery had been forgotten. The past was now viewed selectively and seemed a lot safer and more secure. In contrast, the future they faced with Moses was unknown and comfortless. The Hebrews wanted to reverse their journey.
Despite their yearnings for Egypt’s fleshpots, the Hebrews kept going. There is no standing still – God asks us to keep moving. As the Hebrews did – but in the next breath we are told that they began to quarrel with Moses again. There was no water to drink, so they asked Moses “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst…Is the Lord among us or not?” Again, the Lord provides, but by the time they reach Rephidim the Hebrews are quarrelling again. So it goes on throughout the Exodus journey – a rollercoaster of ups and downs, of enthusiasm and grumbling, of devotion to God, and worshipping a golden calf.
Yet, amid all this, we have the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant, the revelation of God’s name and the renewal of God’s covenant with his people. The 40 years wandering seems pointless until one realises what was achieved in that time. The people Moses led out of Egypt had been enslaved for four centuries. Their spirit was utterly broken after centuries of bondage. The mixed multitude which set out from Egypt was in no condition to take possession of the land promised to it. In the wilderness years, Moses brought God’s law to the people and welded them together in disciplined monotheism.

Prayer

Lord, how often have I started Advent with a determination to advance on my spiritual journey! How often have I resolutely put behind me the many obstacles to my progress only to lose heart at the first hurdle! Help me now, you who went ahead of the Israelites on their  journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for them to camp and to show them the way they should go.

Amen

Glory to you, Father, source of all being,

to you, Jesus, Word made flesh,

to you Holy Spirit, Comforter,

as it was before time began,

is now and shall be into the future.

Amen.