Scarcity, Abundance, and Provision
[A reading of Exodus 16, the story of “Manna”]
Here we have the ancient and well-known myth, to play off of last week’s topic, of the magical food from heaven. Manna means “what is it?” as they had not seen this before and didn’t know what it was. Where this fits into the myth category, is that regardless whether Moses was a real, flesh and blood, literal human being and whether or not the Jews truly wandered the desert for 40 years, there are a few different natural phenomena that show this supernatural food is in fact quite natural.
Here, the most fictional sounding part of the story, might not actually be fiction. One specific theory is that sap on desert plants found in the area where they were said to be wandering excrete this sticky, honeylike substance from it, and like in the story, it melts in the sun. While I do not know if it would spoil in the way it’s described, from personal experience with coconuts, it didn’t take very long for that coconut juice or “milk” to turn quite rancid.
Daily Bread
Manna fits within a theme found throughout scripture, a theme that teaches us to trust God and restrain our greed: give us this day, our daily bread. God delivered daily bread. We must always be reminded, while we can do our best to provide, God is the one that sends the rain and the sun, we cannot. This season we are in is a reminder that no matter how much we want to be secure and in control, that is not something God promised us. God did, however, promise the Jews daily bread via manna. Jesus told us to pray to God, petitioning God, not for a safe and secure lifestyle that’ll last all of our days, but for our daily bread, our provision that’s enough to get us to tomorrow.
Scarcity and hoarding
Scarcity is the idea that everything is limited. There’s only so much for everyone to use. The world is scarce. Food is scarce, fossil fuels are scarce, water in itself is not scarce, but clean and drinkable water is scarce. I’ve heard people describe the economy as a pie and others say it’s not a pie, because if my slice gets bigger, your’s doesn’t necessarily get smaller. The economy, though, is the ability to use and obtain resources, which are indeed scarce, so the pie analogy does indeed hold up, and that is why the greed of hoarding must be addressed for all to not just survive, but thrive.
There’s a neat dystopian movie out there called “In Time.” The premise of this movie was in a very distant future, people were able to genetically engineer the human race to not age beyond 25. At 25, that’s how you will look forever. There is no longer sickness or disabilities. However, everyone has a clock wired into their arm, and time is currency. When you are out of time, your time is literally up and you die. People work for more time. Every time there was a pay increase in the poor districts, costs would always go up.
Meanwhile, in the wealthiest district, people were living for thousands of years. Even in this scenario, resources were still scarce. In order for production to continue, people had to literally be scared to death. The mantra of the wealthiest in this movie was, in order for some to live forever, some people will have to die. Now if that isn’t a myth we can all learn from. Our society is not much different. While there may not be a literal timeclock that hits zero and kills us when we run out of our paycheck, people in poverty are far more likely to die prematurely and live in a way that isn’t really living, really thriving, as God intends.
Now, what does this have to do with anything? God operates out of abundance. Jesus had only five loaves and two fish to use feed over 5000 people. The resources were scarce, but God acted out of abundance. Everyone’s needs were still not just met, but met beyond satisfaction. There were leftovers.
While there may not be a specific verse to prove what I’m about to say, I find from seeing all the themes in scripture and in the historic church traditions, that if we act out of faith, honoring God with our decisions, that we act in a state of abundance, but when we get lazy or dishonest, expecting God to bail us out, it may not happen in the way we expect.
For example, if we are living paycheck to paycheck and spend frivolously on luxuries we cannot afford, we will likely have to reap what we sew. It’s in scripture, especially in the parables and proverbs. On the other hand, if we are like the poor widow that donates her only two coins to those in need, a financially foolish, but spiritually wise move, this is where God provides through abundance. We see abundance when we become radically selfless, but we see scarcity when we live selfishly.
In this story, whether it be greed or simply fear, people hoarded manna despite God’s warning through Moses. What happened, it not only was no longer beneficial but was unpleasant to be around.
What does this story mean to you? How do you take it?
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