Being Content with Enough

Exodus 16:2-4,13-18, 21

 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.”… 

In the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”[a] For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’” 17 The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed….21 Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

The people of Israel had been freed from slavery in Egypt, and now they were passing through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. But the journey was not going well. The desert was not a place of abundant food – the people were unhappy, hungry, and worried.

So God sent manna, which was sort of like bread, but also like rice in that it could be boiled. Anyways it came each morning, each morning God provided the people with food in the desert.

The line that intrigues me is “those who gathered much had nothing over and those who gathered little had no shortage.” God’s instructions were that they should gather an omer (between 5 and 6 cups) per person in the household. Those who tried to gather more than that per person discovered that what they had in fact was an omer for each person – and the people who were less energetic about gathering discovered they had an omer per person. In other words, everyone had enough.

Enough – human being have trouble being content with enough. A little bit more would be better. And then when we have little bit more – a bit more than that would be a good thing. And so it goes. Enough.

Being content with enough is an invitation to live human sized lives, to live lives that fit our world, to live lives that are okay with being smaller. Being content with enough is an invitation to not pursue the bigger, the larger, the grander – but to be content with enough. To do this we need the Holy Spirit to be at work in our lives, that we can learn the beauty of being content.

 PRAYER:

God our provider, you give us enough. Teach us to be content with enough, to be content with living human-sized lives. By your Holy Spirit give us contentment with what you so generously give us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.