Fact Check

A Reflection on the First Reading for August 1st, 2021:
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

---

EXODUS
16:2-4, 12-15

2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 12 "I have heard the murmurings of the people of Israel; say to them, `At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'" 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay round about the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
​

Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

When I prepare to write a reflection, I often consult commentaries or a study Bible to better understand the passage. Earlier this week, I came to appreciate just how valuable a practice this is. Reflecting on the Bible story of God providing manna in the desert, I came across a YouTube video that was clearly intended to be a serious treatment of the story. However, when it got to the part about God raining bread from heaven for the Israelites, hunks of French bread began falling down upon the actors, banging them on the head so that they had to put their arms up to protect themselves.


Moral of the story: remember to check the facts.


In Sunday’s reading, we encounter the Israelites in the wilderness. Having recently witnessed the ten plagues, been led out of Egypt with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, being pursued by the Egyptians to the shores of the Red Sea where they would surely have been slaughtered by the Egyptians except that God parted the Red Sea for them so that they could cross to the other side and their enemies could be destroyed, they are complaining.


God has provided for the Israelites through thick and thin. He has worked miracles for them. But now, with empty bellies, they disregard all that. In fact, they long for the good old slave days in Egypt, which in rose-coloured hindsight seems to be a not-so-bad place.


Ungrateful.


Remind you of anyone?


I’m looking in the mirror, and I’m looking at you.


Like the Israelites, we need to check the facts, especially when we find ourselves in a wilderness place. Those are the times when we just don’t think straight, and it’s easy to disregard all that God has done for us. It’s easy to grumble. It’s easy to ignore the goodness in our circumstances, but consider this — we don’t always see our circumstances as they are. And that’s why we have to trust that God knows us and His plan is to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11). We must trust that He is at work with us and within us during our wilderness times.


Has God not always been with us and for us? Has God not always been faithful? Has God not given us everything, even Himself? Check the facts.


God knows us, and He knows that we will grumble during our wilderness times. Lucky for us, God has more patience than, well, a saint. He has more patience than Moses who, Exodus later tells us, eventually asked God to kill him so that he wouldn’t have to put up with the grumbling any more.


In the end, though, God wants us to get over our grumbling, turn away from ingratitude, honour what He has done for us, and remember that His ways are not like our ways. We can’t always see the plan, but we can always check the facts, and that will help us to remember how much we have to be grateful for.




Donna Davis

---