Sunday – February 28 – Lent II (The First Day… and the Eighth)

To ponder and pray:

¨ What’s the difference between seizing the day and receiving the day?

¨ Can we trust that God has given us enough time?

Try reading Exodus 16:4-31, with time substituted for manna.

Exodus 16:4-31 – Adapted

Then the Lord said to Moses, I am going to rain hours, time from heaven for you, and each day the people shall rise up and have time enough for that day…

On the sixth day, when they gather up time, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, who has heard your complaining about lack of time…’”

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “At twilight you shall eat with plenty of time, and in the morning you shall have your fill of time stretching out before you; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” In the evening time came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of time upon the camp. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” Moses said to them, “It is the time that the Lord has given you. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take as much time as you need for the day.’”

Those who had too much time on their hands measured it in hours and had nothing left over., and those who had little time discovered they had no shortage, they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of the time over till morning.” But they did not listen to Moses; some used up the hours of the night until morning, and the time became to them foul; for they were tired and irritable. The house of Israel called it “time”; it was a new gift every day.

Taken from study guide for Receiving the Day, by Dorothy C. Bass.