Are our hearts still in Egypt?
The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them,
"Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt,
as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!
But you had to lead us into this desert
to make the whole community die of famine!"
When we reflect back on where we were before the LORD delivered us, either in general, or from specific sins, do we still miss what we have left behind? We probably do miss it at least occasionally. The reason is because leaving those things behind leads us to the desert. It leads us to a place where we can no longer satisfy ourselves. We are no longer near the fleshpots. Surrounded by the desert we cannot see how we will find our fill of bread. Egypt, of course, wasn't something we entirely loved. We weren't made to be slaves. We were made for freedom. But sometimes it seemed worth it to surrender our freedom for the sake of the certainty of the satisfaction of bodily pleasures. We knew where joy, such as it was, could be found, even if it always left us empty.
We need to remember that Egypt never satisfied us, not truly. We knew where some pleasure could be found, to be sure. We could only have such pleasure in exchange for our freedom. Pursuing it left us even more empty than ever. The desires of Egypt must be put away.
that you should put away the old self of your former way of life,
corrupted through deceitful desires,
We have to put this old way of life to death. But to do so we need to make our peace with this desert in which we find ourselves.
and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and put on the new self,
created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.
In the desert we now have to rely on God. We have to trust in him to provide for us over and above any material certainties we might prefer. We have to look to him to be our joy over and above any earthly pleasures in which we might delight. Insisting on being in control of our lives seems like freedom but leads to servitude. Entrusting everything to God seems to be a constraint, but it leads to true freedom.
I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.
When we trust God we are freed from playing the role of gods ourselves. We no longer have the obligation, which we can never meet, to orchestrate the universe for our well-being and pleasure.
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
The work of God seems dangerous. It seems like too little. Egypt might seem like a safer bet. But we remember, if we really reflect, that no other bread can truly satisfy except the bread which God gives.
Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
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