Xanthe Hancox

When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. Exodus 16:14-16

This morning’s verse finds the Israelites newly released from slavery in Egypt. A cause for great joy indeed! But the last echo of their joy had barely faded before they began grumbling. They were hungry, they were angry, they were bitter, and they started to complain that they had been better off as slaves.

So at the Lord’s direction Moses and Aaron told them, “In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him.”

What did this mean? In a way, it sounds more like a threat than a promise, doesn’t it? Would God’s glory come in judgment? Would the people get a tongue lashing or some other punishment? Would it mean death?

No, none of that. Quite the opposite, in fact. The glory of the Lord came in a desert cloud. God’s glory came with provisions: a flock of quails in the evening and in the morning, an abundance of manna. Now isn’t that amazing? The greatest display, though certainly not the only display, of God’s glory was his amazing grace. While everyone was bickering, God quietly spread a layer of food on the ground, and Moses told the people, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.”

Many of God’s blessings come to us softly, gently—in the midst of our grumbling. Do we recognize those secret, hidden signs of God’s grace to us?

Prayer: God of grace, we so often grumble and complain like the people of Israel. We ask today for your grace to quiet our grumbling spirits. Help us to turn to you. Amen.