Week of Sabbath I, Day One, Morning Devotion

Prayer for hope and healing:

Lord God, I offer this time of prayer and meditation to you. Through it, may I come nearer to your love, and feel more deeply your grace. Help me to slow down, to hear your call, and to live into your love and mercy.
Amen

Reading: From Exodus, Chapter 16: The giving of bread and Sabbath

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because God has heard your complaining against the Lord.
In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

Meditation

The Israelites were thankful when God rescued them from their captivity in Egypt, and led them into the wilderness. But soon, the wilderness got old. This passage falls six weeks into their wilderness time, when they were hungry and tired. They complained against Moses and against God. In return for their complaining, God’s love and mercy were revealed. God sent meat, in the form of quails, and bread, in the form of manna.

--What has God provided for you? Spend a few moments thinking about how God has blessed you in the last week.

Prayer of joy

Lord God, you provide for our every need. We praise you for your glory, revealed to Israel in their desert food and to us all in the salvation we receive in Jesus Christ. Thank you for your steadfastness, your constant love, your unending mercy. Thank you for seeing through our grumbling to the soul of our love for you. Amen.