Tell Out My Soul

Ex 16:2-15

There are two meanings to the word default.

Default means failing to fulfill an obligation, for example, you could say that someone defaulted on a loan.

The other meaning of default is to automatically do something without thinking about it first. An example would be that someone reacted to confrontation by defaulting to silence. 

Phones, have default settings, for example when you’re typing out a text message, the size of the letters is an automatic function. When a notification goes off, the sound is something that the phone automatically produces. These don’t change; they’re called the default settings. So whenever your phone rings, it’s the same sound you hear every time. Most of the time we stay with the original default settings of the phone, usually because they’re perfectly functional and they suit us, or if you’re like me, because it’s too scary to change things and possibly mess up the phone. But we can go into the settings of a phone and change something if we want to, like the sound of the ring tone. And that gives us a new default setting.

But if you do mess up your phone, you can do what’s called a “factory reset.” This erases all your personal data, it gets rid of all the changes you’ve made, and restores the original settings, the ones that were on the phone when it came out of the factory. It’s like a clean slate. 

As humans, we too have our default settings, our immediate reactions or responses, that we do without thinking. They’re inbuilt. They’re a bit like knee jerk reflexes. Now reflexes like the knee jerk, or sneezing for that matter, are inbuilt, it’s hard to control them, as you know when you try to control a sneeze, it doesn’t stop it happening it just makes you squeeze it all up and screw up your face. 

In today’s reading from Exodus, we get a picture of the default setting of the Israelites who were being led by Moses and Aaron through the wilderness. Things were getting tough at this point, food was short and doubts were seriously creeping in. They even started thinking that maybe they were better off with the Egyptians, at least when they were in captivity they had enough to eat. So what was their knee jerk reaction to this situation, what was their default behaviour?

Instead of responding in a proactive way, or calling upon God for help, they complained, and they whined. And they focussed their dissatisfaction on Moses and Aaron. Moses was a bit disgusted with their attitude, because he figured that in complaining about him and his brother, they were also, by inference, complaining about, and criticising God. So he was not happy at all.

But we know this kind of default mechanism and we see it all the time. We all know people whose first reaction is to complain and criticise instead of actually trying to make things better. There’s a saying that comes to mind in cases like this: if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem. 

So in the case of the complaining Israelites, God performed a factory reset in a big way. At the start, when they came out of Egypt, they were awed by the power of God and believed in him because of the wonders and miracles. But then this attitude changed because of the hunger and hardship they were going through. They changed their default setting of trust and hope, to one of doubt and negativity.

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”’ God is pressing home the point that their behaviour should be one based on faith and trust, the way it was at the start of their exodus. The trust journey was a long one for the Israelites. 

We all have our quick, instant, but nonetheless, individual ways to respond to events in our lives. We’re not all exactly the same, and depending on our personalities, as well as our life experiences, we’ll react differently. Having lived out in the Australian bush for twenty three years, money was tight and it was important to be frugal, so whenever my husband would suggest we go out somewhere to dinner, the first thing I’d say was “how much is that going to cost?” That was my default response. But it wasn’t always like that. When I was single, my default reaction to going out to dinner was, “awesome! Where are we going, and what am I going to wear?”

And then there are automatic reactions we have when things go wrong, when something really bad happens. And likewise, we have our responses when something really wonderful happens, something that we’ve been waiting for that finally comes about. What are the default mechanisms operating here? When something goes right, or when we expect something awful to happen and it doesn’t, it’s an automatic response to say, “Oh, thank God.” Even unbelievers say that, without thinking about what they just said. Lots of people will say, “thank God.”

But when we say, “thank God,” deep down with our whole hearts, that’s the default response that’s important, because it has meaning and impact. It acknowledges that God cares for us and loves us. I can do nothing without God, and nothing happens without God. God is here doing this for me. Thank you God! 

We say it because we really mean it. As believers, we invoke the name of God. The word invoke means to intensely call for something or call on someone, especially in prayer. But we hear so many times, in the normal course of mundane affairs, people just casually saying, “Oh God” or “God no.” Technically this is an invocation, but in reality it lacks any meaning or actual intent or purpose.

In a formal prayer, the first part is the address; in the Lord’s Prayer, the opening phrase is “Our Father,” we’re calling God, asking for God’s attention, we use his name, and it is never, never to be used in vain. Using God’s name in vain, doesn’t just mean blaspheming, it means using God’s name without actually meaning it, without intending to actually connect with God. It’s like a throw away word, but in this case, it’s like throwing God’s name away. 

Last summer, one of our congregation members had an encounter with a venemous snake in her house, and she related the story during morning tea after worship. And I remember that she told me that the first thing she said when she saw the snake in her kitchen was, “Oh Lord what do I do?”

And I remember a few years ago, our former minister told us the story of what happened once when she was teaching. She was in a classroom with her elementary school students, and a disturbed woman carrying a knife came into the classroom. She had to do something quickly in this very tense situation where the welfare of those children was in her hands. Her immediate response was the same as our congregation member in the snake situation. She prayed, “O Lord what do I do?”

In both these cases the default reactions have weight, they are not empty words or phrases. The prayer, which can be just two words, “Oh Lord,” is filled with intent, emotion and deep deep faith. 

When we sit down to eat a meal, our natural default should be to say grace before we start eating, to express gratitude for God’s bounty. I have to admit though that I sometimes forget to say grace, usually because I’m busy, or rushing, or thinking about other things. Usually I’m into my third mouthful before I say thank you, but I’m working on it. At least my default when I forget to say grace is to apologise. 

God should be our default setting for everything. And believe it or not, defaulting to God is a factory setting. We came out that way, because God made us with the functions of loving him, needing him and depending on him. The mark of our maker is all over us. But we’re the ones who go and mess around with the factory setting. Depending on what our lives are like, the things that happen to us and how we change as people, our default behaviour can shift from the original setting. 

Sometimes when a person becomes successful, he can start believing that he and he alone has done these amazing things, ignoring the fact that we can do nothing without God. He takes all the credit for himself and doesn’t thank God for anything, or anyone else for that matter.  Stress, anxiety, and the negative things that life throws at us can alter our automatic reactions too.  Just like the Israelites, wandering around, hungry and worn out, we too can find ourselves reacting to problems by losing hope and complaining instead of automatically turning to an all powerful, all loving God, the one who cares for us. 

When we have a seemingly insurmountable problem, how many times do we fall into a heap, before we turn around and ask for God’s help. How much needless suffering do we endure because we fail to go to Jesus right away and lay our pains and sorrows at the foot of his cross. How much anxiety do we go through before we say, “Oh Lord, what do I do?”

Temptations from outside and the ego from the inside, these are things that mess around with our defaults. I’m in a hurry, I’m distracted, I wolf down my lunch before saying grace. I know it’s not a big thing, but in that moment God slips out of the picture, and he’s pushed out in the rush. For that moment I put myself and my own distractions and thoughts before God. The default setting to say grace is changed, and if this becomes habitual, then it becomes the norm to not say grace. That’s when it’s time for a factory reset.

The Gospels are full of encouragement towards prayer, to invoke God, to make God our default response. 

Matthew 21:22 – And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

John 15:7 – If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 14:13 – Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 16:24 – Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Matthew 7:7  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” This is arguably the most well-known “ask and you shall receive” passage, and here Jesus is telling his disciples, and all of us as well, to seek the kingdom of God. He assures us that if we seek God’s grace, mercy and salvation, then we will receive all of it, when we ask in faith, and love. God in his loving kindness will respond; Jesus says, “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?” It is absolutely true that God the Father will respond to our needs. But Matthew 7:7 isn’t just about asking for material things, it encourages us to nurture a deep and abiding faith that is always seeking closeness to God. Jesus encourages us to default to God, to default to him. 

Psalm 105 says:

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.

We can seek his presence by defaulting to God in the little things of life, like the simple act of waking up in the morning, and saying, “hello God!” Or saying, “goodnight God,” at the end of the day as we close our eyes to sleep. We say these things to our kids, to our spouses, to the postman, it’s an automatic thing. Why not God? When we see a flower or a beautiful cloud display, or the smell of the rain on dry earth, instead of just thinking, “isn’t that wonderful,” we can think, “praise you God; you make all this happen.”

God is omnipresent, everywhere, all the time, why not keep him in our own hearts and minds, there, all the time, in the good times, the bad times and in the ordinary times of our lives. As Christians, God should always be our default. And this is where the idea of abiding comes into the picture. Abiding is such a beautiful word. Abide is related to the word abode, a home. Abiding in Jesus means to live in Jesus, to have our home in him. He said, abide in me. Live in me. He is our home. We have a physical geographical house where our bodies live. But Jesus is also a home to us, Jesus is the home where our hearts and minds live.

When we wake up, our eyes see the inside of our home, the wallpaper, the cupboards, the carpet etc, the physical things around us. And when our minds wake up they see Jesus, everywhere all around us, in all things and in all happenings, inseparable from us. Just as Paul said, nothing can separate us from Christ Jesus. Abiding in Jesus means that he is the pivot point around which our thoughts and feelings revolve. He is the spiritual force that influences our reactions and responses. With Jesus placed firmly at this central point of our lives then it is natural to seek him, to invoke him. How can we not? How can we not respond to him, freely, immediately, and without having to think about it? 

Good morning God, thank you Lord, praise you Jesus, help me Father, please God. These are the default settings we have as followers of our loving Saviour, and as children of our Father God. These are the responses that were inbuilt in us, original, and uncontaminated. 

May we always avoid the temptation to change these settings.

Amen