LAST SUNDAY at “The Bible in One Year” I was talking about how the people kept whining to Moses. They complained about how they were tired of eating mana and wanted meat, and God said to Moses, in effect, “they want meat? I’ll give them so much meat it’ll come out their noses!” (Numbers 11:20) Afterwards, someone asked why God waited until the people complained to provide food for them. “Couldn’t God tell they were hungry before things got desperate?” they asked. If I heard the question right, this is a major issue for biblical religion.  If God wants to save and bless people, why bother with all this human drama and foolishness? These people were out in the desert… is it surprising they got hungry? Why wait until they make fools of themselves before intervening on their behalf?

 If an all-powerful God wanted to fix the world, there must be more efficient ways to go about it than forming enigmatic relationships with escaped Hebrew slaves who keep whining about the menu. But according to the Bible, God loves a story. According to the Bible, God loves stories about ordinary people having really tragic and really funny things happen to them. According to the Bible, the only way to know God is by living a human life and becoming part of our own story. Why is God interested in us? It’s hard to say, but remember what God told Moses in Exodus 3:14: “I is what I is,” so it appears we are stuck with it.