The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence

 

Reflection Sunday 20^th September 2020 – 

Exodus 16: 1 – 15

 

My Reflections over the last few weeks have not looked at the story of Moses but perhaps you’ve been reading those passages in the suggested Sunday Bible readings yourself. If you have, you’ll have read how God chose Moses to bring out the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. They’ve been kept safe from the plagues, marked Passover, and have come through the Red Sea and now they find themselves in the Desert of Sin, the wilderness.

I doubt if many of us have found ourselves in a wilderness. But we know from things we have read or from films and television documentaries what the wilderness is like. A place lacking in water and food. And we know that before preparing for a journey through a wilderness we would need to ensure we had plenty of supplies.

The people of Israel seem unprepared, whether this was because they’d left Egypt in a hurry who knows. But they now find themselves without adequate supplies and what do they do? They start grumbling

² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat round pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.’

It’s worth thinking about these couple of verses for a moment. What the Israelites are saying is that they consider things were so bad in the wilderness they would have preferred to stay in slavery in Egypt and die - either through the plagues or by the Angel of Death. “We would have died in Egypt but at least we had food to eat.” And certainly, there is nothing in the accounts to suggest that in Egypt the “Hebrew slaves” lacked food – even if they were captives.

But the Hebrews’ present trouble in the wilderness distorts their memory of the recent past. Egypt was a place of deep abuse and heavy-handed oppression. In the wilderness they are not experiencing abuse or oppression. Their only trouble is a lack of bread and meat. And this short-term concern about food overrides any long-term hope for a future of freedom and well-being.

All too often, like the Hebrews in the wilderness, there is a tendency to look back to past times. But in doing so we gain a distorted view of what those past times were like. We see it amongst some at present in our own country. A looking back to a time when Britain ruled the waves. A looking back to a time when this country stood on its own. Of course, it was never really like that but that is the perception and for some this nostalgia seems to shield them from the realities of the present day.

It happens in church too.  As a minister all too often I get told stories of how years ago there was a Sunday school with 50 young people or a church being full. Everything was wonderful.  Was it really?

When faced with a challenging time, it is comforting to look back. We can put on the rose tinted glasses and draw false comfort. But this isn’t helpful.

A quote I find useful in this respect is this

“The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” Roy T. Bennett The Light in the Heart

The Hebrews were looking back to Egypt and wished they were still living there as they had had meat and bread. In fact, instead of wishing they were living there, they should have been learning from their experience there.

We can learn from looking back. Learn the things that were good and helpful and learn from those things that didn’t work or were a problem.

Again, what the Hebrews seemed to have forgotten is that God is with them in the wilderness. Their grumbling is directed to Moses and Aaron not to God. Yet God is with them and God will provide for them just as God is guiding them through the wilderness.

We know that we have been living in a strange times these last six months. And for our country the past few years have been unsettling too. Therefore, I understand why in church and outside church it is comforting to try and look back at the past and gain comfort from it. But we are in the here and now and, to quote John Wesley, “Best of all God is with us”.

God has not abandoned us. He is with us leading us through this strange time. Leading his people to somewhere different. Moving us from what we knew before – even what we knew immediately before Covid.

Like you maybe, I’m not sure what God has in store for us. I’m not sure where he is leading us during this wilderness time. But he is leading. And I feel sure that he will provide manna for us to get through this strange time. What form that “manna” will take I’m not sure either! (Though in our Circuit it could be said the manna has been the ability of the Circuit to help financially some of our smaller chapels through this challenging time.)

Psalm 105 picks up the themes of the Exodus passage. And the Psalmist reminds us that on some occasions it is acceptable to look back to remind ourselves at what God has done and learn from that. Therefore, during these wilderness times (and always) we should

⁴ Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.

⁵ Remember the wonders he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, Psalm 105: 4 – 5