What makes the Bible holy for me is not so much that my old Sunday School teachers told me it was, or that many of our hymns claim that it is, or even that it says so right there on the cover. What makes the Bible holy for me is that it so clearly reveals the truth to me over and over again.

In story after story, I come face to face with the true nature of the human condition and the promise of God’s loving action. No more vividly, perhaps, than in the story of the Hebrew people wandering about in the wilderness.

We all know the story. The folk have just been liberated from a lifetime of bondage. By the amazing grace of God, they have finally been set free from their oppressors.

"Free at last! Free at last! Great God Almighty, we’re free at last!"

And what happens?

They begin to complain. Slowly at first but with a growing growl that even Moses cannot ignore. It wasn’t but a few days ago that they were crying for their freedom, complaining that if God were really God they’d be walking in the promised land already. Now that they’re on the way, the bitching has already begun.

Anybody else see themselves in all of this?

I surely can relate to what was happening back then because it happens to me right now. So piously do I pray that God will give me guidance and when it comes, I religiously ignore it.

I suppose that is why this particular story of the exodus is so authentic to me. It speaks to my condition, my tendency to want to tell God what to do rather than listen to what God has to say.