.......but don't take too much - A TRACT FOR THE TIMES

……………You can help yourself but don’t take too much” – a line from God bless the child.

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

Loo-rolls, pasta, baked bean cans, pasta and now alcohol purchased off-licence?.

The book of Exodus tells us that, when the Israelites, having escaped from Egypt, were stranded in the desert, God sent  them “manna from heaven”.

We’re told it was  a “delicate, powdery thing like hoarfrost on the ground”.  Doesn’t sound terribly appetizing, does it?  A bit like cold complan  or  quinoa  every morning. Perhaps 1st prize was manna for breakfast for a month and 2nd prize was manna for breakfast for a year!

Actually though, it’s been identified as the honey-like dropping  from tamarisk trees, consisting of the secretions from lice who suck liquid from the twigs. If it was packaged today, I believe the label would strictly have to say “contains glucose and fructose but no protein and no additives.”

Well, so perhaps it was quite tasty after all and  the Israelites certainly took to it in a big way. First of all they said “What is it?”  That’s where it gets its name. The Hebrew man-hu means “What is it?”. Then they tasted it and liked it. 

So God took this as an opportunity to test his chosen people.

He told them he would rain this stuff down to their heart’s content but that they were only to gather it daily and not hoard it. The only exception was on the eve of the Sabbath when they could take enough for two days. Bit like an extra pint of milk for the weekend.

The general rule was clear. Take only what you need for the day and don’t try to stockpile it. But what did some of them do? You’ve guessed it!

They took more than their ration, more than they could comfortably eat at one sitting and tried to hoard it for the next day. And what happened?  It went off. It bred worms and became foul. Serve them right, said God, for being greedy and not trusting to my providence.

I suppose if they’d had fridges or freezers in the wilderness, He would have had to find some other way of teaching them a lesson but the moral is plain. Trust that God will provide, be grateful to Him, and take no selfish d.i.y. thought  for the morrow.

Of course those who wanted to grab more than their fair share of the manna in case there wasn’t enough to go round are quite recognisable this very morning, aren’t they?

The hoarders. The queue-bargers. The panic buyers.

There have been some sociologically fascinating sights on display:

A determined-looking, defensive woman, flanked by security staff, clinging on to a shopping trolley piled high with stacks of lavatory paper.

A wide angle shot of supermarket alleys stripped bare of food.

A nurse coming off a 48 hour shift breaking down in tears because nobody had bothered to leave enough basic rations for people like her. 

 “I’m all right Jack”.  Ugly behaviour which is a mixture of greed and insecurity.

Greed is ugly but it’s also slightly pathetic and laughable.

Insecurity is actually the more serious malaise because it is a symptom of not trusting in God.

God can forgive your greed - and will do gladly if you are genuinely penitent - but, if you don’t trust Him, then you won’t be able to trust in His forgiveness and you will go on behaving selfishly as if it was you against the world (“got to look after No.1”) and so you will go on feeling insecure.

How many portions of whatever manna from heaven is for you will be enough?    You can’t win! 

Trust  in God. If we surrender our cares and our lives to Him, He will give us what we need, no less and NO MORE.

Of course you can have too much of a good thing. If you take more than you need, if you take someone else’s share, you may feel a momentary gloating thrill but beware, in the words of the book of Exodus, it will breed worms, become foul. Or at least your soul will, even if the toilet rolls are durable. The best thing for your soul would be to take some of them back and donate them to others in need.

And don’t forget the Lord’s Prayer: give us this day our daily bread. It’s the same message. Think about it. We mumble it often enough! 

Jesus says ask God for your daily bread, not a year’s, or even a month’s, supply in advance. Trust that God will provide, be grateful to Him and take no selfish,D.I.Y thought for the morrow.

Here endeth the morality play for today.