For the Jews, the clearest sign of God's saving grace was the time that he led his people out of slavery, when he led them through the Red Sea and provided for them for forty years in the Wilderness. It was a time when God's people had to rely on him completely for everything.
When we read the account in Chapters 16 and 17 of Exodus, though, it is clear that the people were far from grateful for this release from bondage. Far from trusting God, they assumed he would leave them hungry and thirsty, and even tried to make their own arrangements in defiance of what they had been told.
At the start of his public ministry, Jesus put himself into the position of the children of Israel. This time however, he made the right choice - one of trust in God. In his answers to the devil, he echoes God's own reproaches to the people of Israel. God alone is holy, God alone is trustworthy, material needs alone cannot satisfy us.
In an age when the success of a government is measured by its success in raising its own citizens' standard of living above that of their neighbours, it is good to reflect that God's chosen king did not reject human needs, but put them a poor second to serving God.
The children of Israel failed to look beyond the manna that fell from heaven, beyond the water that flowed from the rock at Massah, to the God who cared for them, who provided for them, to Jesus himself - the true bread of life, the source of living water. As Jesus himself said, and as Paul reminds the Corinthians, if they had only known it, the Israelites could have recognized Christ there in the desert feeding and caring for them.
During Lent we remind ourselves of our Lord's fast. For us, it is a good time for a spiritual check-up. We need to retreat like Jesus into the desert, away from the noise and preoccupations of the world. For in the desert we can have more time to listen to that 'still, small voice'. And we can use the opportunity to get our priorities right. If we seek bread, or power, or admiration, we may well be disappointed. But if we seek the kingdom of God, then we will surely find it. And, who knows, the other things will be added as well, in fuller measure than we ever expected.
HD