God's Sense of Humor

(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

People who think God doesn't have a sense of humor have just not read enough Bible. There are funny moments scattered throughout. Take the events described in Exodus 16. The Israelites are complaining (what ELSE is new?) about Moses dragging them out into the wilderness to starve to death. Whine, whine, whine. They have seen miracle after miracle; from little things, like dead frogs scattered all about, to big ones, like God using the Red Sea to destroy the Egyptian army. All those miracles, and yet they couldn't trust Him to provide the food they needed.

So God tells Moses to tell the people HE will send them meat each evening and bread each morning. Then, that night, God sent Quail. Wow ... quail ... pretty tasty, But it's not a nicely prepared pan-roasted quail with a Port sauce reduction. No, no, no. It's QUAIL. And not just quail; DEAD quail. They're falling ... on the ground (THUD!) ... on the tents (THUMP!) ... on the kids (THWAP!). They're falling on ... well, EVERYTHING! God dropped quail from the sky, and they "covered the entire camp."

THUD! THUD! THUD!
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!

So, next time you're thinking of complaining about God not meeting your needs, pause a minute; reflect. Could it be God IS meeting our needs and we just don't recognize it as that? The Israelites cannot have forgotten the events that took place just a few days prior, those stunning events that had so effectively extricated them from the clutches of their cruel masters. And yet, they seemed unable to see the big picture ... to connect the dots.

It can happen to any of us, slipping into this not-seeing-the-miracles-for-the-frogs mindset. When that happened to the Israelites, the message God sent to them was "Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining." And then He met their needs ... just not, I'm sure, quite like they had in mind.

So, the next time you feel a bout of whining coming on, remember ... God has a very interesting sense of humor :-)

################################
You never know WHAT we'll talk about when we get together at Lectionary Breakfast ... Something from that week's lectionary passages. The only way to know for sure is to join us. This week, we might have discussed miracles, or how how God sometimes changes His mind(!), or maybe how sometimes we are envious when God is generous to other people. As it turns out, we talked about the equal-pay-for-unequal-work situation in the Matthew passage. What do YOU think about that?

Readings for the Coming Week
Proper 20 (25) (September 18, 2011)
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

We're at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m. every Friday, downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages. We would love to have you drop in.

Enjoy!
Steve