Numbers 11:1-23
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
I'll admit that I am not always as careful as I ought to be when it comes to my "tone." This has been an issue all of my life, with especially tricky consequences during my teen years when I was speaking to my parents. More than once my parents responded to my questions, requests, and even answers with the their own question "Who do you think you're talking to?" It seems in life that there are times when it's not so much what you ask as how you ask it.
The Israelites' wilderness experience has become more treacherous in today's lesson.
In addition to all of the challenges inherent in the desert, the murmuring in the camp has angered God. The text begins with a description of God's burning anger at the peoples' incessant complaints. Whining, murmuring, complaining, accusing, griping - God simply got tired of hearing it and sent a fire at the edge of the camp to remind the people how bad it could be. Meanwhile, "the rabble" develop a "strong craving." Their appetites create a stirring that God's food ("manna") does not satisfy. Rather than appreciating the miracle of constant food in a desert, they wax nostalgic about their past lives in Egypt. Conveniently, they discount the fact that in Egypt they were slaves, burdened and serving in oppression. All they remember is the scrumptious and diverse foods of the Egyptians.
I have to believe as I read this text that, as is usually the case with the Israelites, their problem is not so much what they want but how they ask for it. How could they forget that God loves them and has borne them on eagles' wings? How could they forget that God released them for a purpose and is leading them to a wide and abundant place? How can they be so focused on the inconvenience of the moment? It's all about the boredom. "Give us meat!" God speaks to Moses and says, "I'll give them meat until they are sickened with it,until it comes out of their noses and ears."
Brothers and sisters, boredom is dangerous, especially when it is accompanied by spiritual amnesia and ingratitude. And when you add to it murmuring against the God who knows, sees, and hears everything, it is only worse. Don't get me wrong, I believe that God cares enough to want to know how we are feeling. We don't have to be afraid to be honest with God. At the same time, we must never forget that God is God. Asking for what our hearts desire is not a sin. Craving the things that belong to the worldly life is.
Sing, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"
Let us pray:
God our Provider, even though we sometimes live with the deprivations of the wilderness, we give you thanks for freedom from the oppression and bondage of sin. We thank you for the daily bread, the manna that you provide each morning with the dew, to nourish and sustain us in our current state. Keep our minds clear so that we never mistake the world's smorgasbord for a nourishment. Help us to dine daily on the delicacies you provide at your table. Bread of heaven, feed us till we want no more. Amen
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1 comment:
This devotion speaks so loud and clear to feelings I battled with all day yesterday and especially yesterday afternoon. Thank you for the encouraging reminder that God is always providing regardless of the way things appear. I thank God for the spirit of comfort that came upon be yesterday after I went through my ranting, griping, groaning, and complaining phase. God is so patient with us! He allows us to vent; however he gives us the comfort we need in order to get through those periods where our focus, as you so accurately put it, is on the inconveniences of life instead of where it should be - on the Bread of Life, which is Christ Jesus. His comfort allows us to get a grip and a better handle on our emotions. His comfort allowed me to repent for moments of weakness, anger, frustration, and even wrath, and to re-focus on all the many blessings and provisions that God has and is showering upon me even now. His comfort gets you through difficult times and to a point where (as you once again hit the nail on the head) your mind is clear and we can recognize these battles we face for what they are: Spiritual Warfare. Thanks be to God that the battle is not ours, but the Lord's!
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