I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for an excerpt from Wisdom Council member Richard Bruxvoort Colligan’s book Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life.
Ready or Not: A Riff on Psalm 78
In the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 16 tells the story of the people of Israel being led by Moses through the wilderness. The group had been liberated from slavery about a month and a half before. Still, they were anxious. They complained to Moses that they were starving and hopeless; if they were going to die in the desert, maybe they’d be better off back in Egypt.
Theologian Sarah Bessey points out that if we’ve been given a faith of simplicity and certainty, the experience of unknown wilderness is going to be profoundly disturbing. We might even think that it’s wrong of us to be confused, a terrible insult to injury. But moving through wilderness is as faithful an experience as it is uncomfortable. The trip itself, and not just the destination, is a vital dimension of our lifelong spiritual formation.
The days the Israelites spent following Moses were a time of both being lost and being guided. In the story, God provides sustenance in part in the form of a weird unknown food-like stuff the people called manna, a name that means, roughly, “What is this?” They couldn’t store it, but it landed faithfully like dew in the morning for them to eat in the moment.
Psalm 78 sings a hyperlink to that story in Exodus.
Our covenant God gave them what they craved.
(Of Psalm 78:29)
This psalm serves as a synopsis of God’s complicated history with the people of Israel. It sings of grace, help, and punishment, and of the people’s regular ingratitude and rebellion.
The word manna itself is a kind of meditation, one that you and I can use today when we find ourselves on the verge of Deep Change. In such moments, here are some questions we can ask ourselves:
- What is the change I’m noticing?
- Can I be sure what this change is about?
- What precisely am I hungry for? Am I sure of that?
- Where do I think I’m headed?
In the Exodus 16 story, the people are rescued with manna, meat, and the winds from the east and south dividing the Red Sea so they can escape from Egypt.
Ready or not, Way is opening to some new path.
Praying the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), means trusting that our needs will be met. It’s a petition of trust. Alternatively, when we are suffering, or in touch with others who are, the world can feel like a place of lack, not of generosity. Psalm 78, with all its manna-ness, holds space for both perspectives.
Being immersed in deep change is perplexing. In these moments, our instruments need recalibration, and we’re tired out. As in any time of anxiety, we can find ourselves considering whether we can make do with what we have or if we need something different. Psalm 78 opens possibilities of meeting the unknown with “what is this?” zero-shelf-life food and also guards us against greed, keeping us from feeling entitled to particular outcomes and sliding into bitterness or aggressive ingratitude. It’s helpful to remember that there’s more ahead than we can now see.
Reprinted with permission from Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan. Copyright © 2026 Broadleaf Books.
Dr. Richard Bruxvoort Colligan is a spiritual director, musician, and lover of laughter. He brings his passion for lifelong spiritual formation and the arts, along with enthralled curiosity for the Great Mystery we are in together. His ongoing project is composing congregational songs at PsalmImmersion.com. He is the author of Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life (Broadleaf Books). Richard serves as Director of Spiritual Formation at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN and lives with his wife Trish and dogs Winifred and Jack. Visit Richard online at Worldmaking.net and Patreon.com/RichardBC
