Text: Exodus 16:2-15
Theme: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
15th Sunday
after Pentecost
September 21, 2014
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
+In
the Name of Jesus+
2 In
the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The
Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!
There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have
brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then
the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people
are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test
them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On
the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice
as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So
Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that
it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and
in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your
grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses
also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in
the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard
your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but
against the Lord.”
9 Then
Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord,
for he has heard your grumbling.’”
10 While
Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the
desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
11 The
Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be
filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 That
evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer
of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like
frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When
the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not
know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the
Lord has given you to eat.
It was 1965,
and there, fresh on to the scene, came The Rolling Stones -- another English rock band besides The
Beatles – with a song called “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. The lyrics took a dig at the commercialism
that characterized the 1960s and still does today. Mick Jagger himself said, in an interview,
that the song made them into a big rock band.
The lyrics, he is quoted to have said, are about “alienation”.
“(I Can’t Get
No) Satisfaction”. For you linguistic
purists, you may have noticed the double negative: “I can’t get no”. A double negative cancels itself out and
turns into either nothing or a positive.
So, are you satisfied, unsatisfied, or neither of the two this morning?
Today’s Old
Testament Reading turns back the pages of Bible history and catches up with the
Israelites at a moment in time when they were not satisfied at all. When you’re not satisfied, you can sit around
and wallow in self-pity. You can do the
“Oh, poor, pitiful me” schtick. Or you
can do something about it; you can take action.
The popular action item, at first, is to grumble or complain. And, my friends, there was a whole lot of
grumbling and complaining going on in our text.
It says that the “whole community” grumbled.
If you were in
their situation, you’d grumble too! No
doubt about it. Most of us haven’t had
their problem, but there may be handful or so of you that have had the problem.
What’s the problem? You are desperately
hungry; it’s physical hunger. There is
nothing to eat. No pitch-in. No
potluck. No China Buffet. No
Whataburger. No nothing. You’re
malnourished. Your body, sensing the
situation and always prepared to adapt, starts feeding itself off your lean
muscle mass and fat stores. But that
can’t go on forever. Eventually
starvation sets in and then death.
The whole
community grumbled; they couldn’t get satisfaction – and satisfaction of a most
basic kind. But they didn’t grumble into
thin air. Their complaints had an
object. That object was their leadership
– specifically, Moses and Aaron.
Now Moses and
Aaron, as they story goes, were used by God to lead the Israelites out of four
hundred years of slavery. It was the
great salvation event of the Old Testament.
But now, out in the wilderness, the hunger pangs were setting in
something fierce. And the heroes of the
Exodus turned out to be the villains.
They say:
If
only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat
and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to
starve this entire assembly to death.
And Moses and Aaron reply:
You
will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and
all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling
against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.
That night the
quail came. And there was meat. The next morning, the manna came. And there was bread.
One simple
explanation of how we came to be here today is this: Almighty God answered a petition, a petition
in a prayer we pray every Sunday and more.
It goes like this: “Give us this
day our daily bread.” That daily bread
is more than coffee, cinnamon toast, a banana or yogurt. As one of the reformers confessed, daily
bread is “all that we need to support this body and life.” Our presence is proof that we’ve had that
support. We’ve been satisfied.
The culture we
live in, though, wants us to be completely unsatisfied. If we’re unsatisfied, then it’s more likely
that we’ll go out and strive and do and spend in order to be satisfied.
For some,
enough is never enough. There is always
more and more to be had and consumed.
It’s really like a hunger that can never be satiated. Instead of being content with what has
brought us to this day; instead of recognizing, enjoying, reveling in, and giving
thanks to God for the good gifts we’ve received, we’re all about more. And then we wonder why we’re not
satisfied. John Cougar put it into
words:
I've
got seven of everything and more in the till
But
I ain't ever satisfied
You
think this is dangerous stuff
It
ain't even a thrill
I
ain't ever satisfied
Oh,
I am never
No,
I am never
I
don't know why I ain't ever satisfied.
We’ve got a whole world of people echoing the Hoosier rocker’s
line! But along comes Jesus Christ who
says (in John chapter six): “I am the
bread of life. Whoever comes to me will
never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” THAT is satisfaction.
As happened with Moses and Aaron, Jesus experienced it too. People complained and grumbled about what He
said and did. Others praised Him. Neither the complaints nor the praises of the
people fazed Him in the least. He came
to seek and to save that which was lost in this world where people “ain’t ever
satisfied.” He loved them all the way to
a cross and an empty tomb. He ushered in
a new life and a new way of life. It’s
an opportunity to be satisfied with God’s provisions and seek to share them
with others. After all, He was the One
who taught us to pray: “Give us this day
our daily bread.”
Personally, that prayer has been answered in my life for nearly
fifty-four years. Any other explanation
as to why I’m still alive and kickin’, well, they just don’t satisfy.
Let me pepper in one more lyric.
This from John Newton:
See,
the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love,
Well
supply your sons and daughters, and all fear of want remove.
Who
can faint, while such a river ever will their thirst assuage?
Grace
which, like the Lord, the giver, never fails from age to age.
Round
each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear
For
a glory and a covering. Showing that the
Lord is near.
Thus
deriving from their banner Light by night and shade by day,
Safe
they feed upon the manna which God gives them on their way.
When life tempts into incessant grumbling, SPOT THE MANNA!
Let us pray:
Savior,
since of Zion’s city I through grace a member am,
Let
the world deride or pity, I will glory in Your name.
Fading
are the worldlings’ pleasures – all their boasted pomp and show;
Solid
joys and lasting treasures none but Zion’s children know.
Amen.
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