Exodus 16
A church in Arizona once did an online study of a small devotional book by Quinn Caldwell called, “All I Really Want.” I do not have this book, nor have I read it, but the title makes me think of all the wish lists we carry around with us. “I want a new jacket; our house is too small; I need a bigger TV.” The list goes on and on. There are complaints about how the HOA leaders of the neighborhood have their own agenda which does not fit mine. “Why don’t they listen to me?” The takeout food is cold; the temperature outside is too hot; the children are too noisy. As the saying goes, “As a rule man is a fool: When it’s hot he wants it cool; When it’s cool, he wants it hot, Always wanting what is not.”
Remember the Biblical story of the Israelites in the desert and God provides them with food: bread and manna, meat and quail, water. Yet the people mutter and complain against Moses, Aaron, and God, longing to be back in the land of Egypt. They only remember having good food there—not the hardships and cruelty they endured. They have received so many blessings from God but only can complain about the negative—this food just does not taste very good! The quail are sparse, and their meat is tough!
An unknown writer said, “Grant a man the necessities in life, and he wants the conveniences; give him the conveniences, and he prays for the luxuries; grant him the luxuries, and he yearns for the elegances; let him have the elegances, and he asks for the follies; grant him everything that he wishes, and he will complain that the price was too high and the quantity too small.”
I once read of two little girls who grew up on the wide, lonely prairies of Alaska. They played with each other, worked on the farm, learned to cook from their mother, and in the evening, learned to read and write and do arithmetic from their father. Their only book was the Bible and it served as their textbook for their learning. When they grew older, one became a teacher; the other, a nurse. What struck me most was their happiness, positive attitude, and gratitude to God, their parents, and distant neighbors for the possibilities and hope they had.
Pause for a moment and reflect on what God has done for you, what undeserved gifts you have received. We are all recipients of blessings from God. Thanking God for our blessings and learning to be satisfied is an attitude that is extremely precious and one for which we all should strive.
Prayer: Thank you God, for the many blessings you have given to me. (List them) Amen.
Song: “Praise and Thanksgiving”—Text by Albert F. Bayly; ELW 689