Ex. 16:11 “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.”

 

   This lesson from the book of Exodus takes us back into the history of the people of Israel. Back to the time in which God had just, with great miracles, delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. He had brought them through the Red Sea, destroying their pursuers, and they were now traveling across the Sinai Peninsula.

 

   This area they were traveling through was desert country and this large mass of people traveling through it soon used up the food they were able to take with them.

 

They seemed doomed to starvation. The people murmured against Moses and Aaron and said, “Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.“ Moses tells them that, “your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.” In other words they didn't trust God to save them.

 

   The Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Lent has a somewhat similar story.

 

Some 5,000 people had followed Jesus out into the wilderness without bringing along enough to eat. When Jesus asks Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Philip basically tells him it isn't possible. Saint Andrew then speaks up and tells about the lad's loaves and fishes, but says that isn't enough to do any good.

 

   In both cases, by man's best judgment and reasoning, there seemed no possible solution to the problem. In both cases however God supplied the food that was needed.

 

   Both of these stories should remind us of our dependence on God. Not only for the things we need to survive in this world, but our dependence on His mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

   During the Lenten Season, (as we focus on the great love shown by Christ dying on the cross for our sins), we need to remember that we are helpless to reconcile ourselves to God on our own. That God provided His saving grace through Christ's sacrifice for us.

 

   We should trust in God to provide what we really need in this life, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work to help ourselves. God wants us to give our best effort for ourselves, but also for others.

 

   Saint Paul writes in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, “If any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.”

 

   God does indeed want us to work, but to keep in mind our complete dependence on Him. We should trust fully in Him during difficult times. We need to remember in all of our troubles Saint Peter's words when he tells us that we should be, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.”