The first moments of holding your very own newborn baby in arms is exceedingly euphoric. It takes your breath away and kinda makes you speechless. That wee bundle of joy, a miracle gift from God. He or she is yours, to have, hold, love, train and treasure.
You think this innocent one is pure and could do no wrong. Yet when, I'll say, he, begins to show less than innocent behavior, you feel disappointment and devastation and may even deny that that show of anger, rebellion or lying even happened. After all, he is still young and sweet and your little sunshine, how could he possibly have exhibited any such wrong behavior?!
Still, reality must kick in and you need to deal with it for the sake of that precious child and the life he'll need to live. You want a fine, upstanding, God-fearing citizen to unfold as he grows into maturity.
So can you imagine how God felt when His chosen baby, the nation of Israel, behaved in very less than innocent character and ungrateful attitudes? The complaining and rabble-rousing, wailing children of Israel already under the discipline of wilderness wanderings from the rejection of God's Promised Land gift, continued to have tantrums and give Moses' a migrane.
The LORD's reaction was...
"And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly," (Numbers 11:10).
While Moses,
"...was displeased..." (Numbers 11:10),
with his charges.
Have you ever written a complaint or lament to the Lord? Moses prayed one. He was at his wit's end and didn't know what to do with that unthankful lot (see Numbers 11:11-15). So he made his complaint but also cried out that his burden was too heavy for him and he couldn't do it alone. Then he asked the LORD to kill him if he,
"found favor in [God's] sight" (Numbers 11:15).
Ever feel like dying too because of an unruly, unthankful bunch of children or congregation?
The LORD was so gracious to Moses, His meek friend. At our wit's end, cry out to the Lord too. He knows how much we can take. The Lord never scolded Moses for having a death wish. I love His instructions to Moses,
"Gather for me 70 men of the elders of Israel..." (Numbers 11:16).
God knew what the core reason was for Moses' seeming defeat ...
Moses had been doing the work of 70 + 1 (Moses himself) men! No wonder he was wiped out. Do you ever feel like that? I see that some pastors or other church leaders or young Mom's are overworked and underpaid.
Anyway, the LORD continued.
"...bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you" (Numbers 11:16).
I love the feel of that. I think that straight away, Moses was feeling better although maybe still unsettled, wondering exactly what the LORD was going to do here. The LORD's next words must have been a wonderful boon and salve to Moses' heart.
"I will come down and talk with you there" (Numbers 11:17).
What a solace! What promise! What reassurance! The LORD doesn't do things in half measures either. Look at what else He told Moses.
"And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone" (Numbers 11:17).
The LORD had a solution that was beyond Moses' imagination in that exceedingly stressful and distressful situation with the grumbling Israelites.
I like to believe that He'll do the same for us in our day and age. At your wit's end? Cry out to Him and see what He'll do for you.
All that being said, the LORD still needed to deal with His erring child. The discontented, ungrateful, kicking and screaming - so to speak - child.
So basically, He said, "OK, fine, you want meat, I'll give you meat, so much so you'll be sick of it." I find the conversation amusing in that Moses' can't quite believe his ears. When you think of it, they are out in the middle of a desert and there are 600,000 people on foot (counting the men of age only so that means there were ever so many more mouths than that to feed), and there'd be enough meat to eat for a whole month?! What would the food bill for such a mammoth month have been? Moses' mouth must have been hanging open.
Can you see Moses shaking his head to try to get that round his brains in comprehension. It's almost like God is teasing Moses and saying to the people, "You think that I, Your Father God, can't do this!? That I can't provide for you, even here, in a desert?! Watch me and see!"
In some ways I can't blame them but God had already done so many miracles for them along the way but they still couldn't believe He could pull this one off. We are such faint, feeble and faithless people at times too.
The LORD asked Moses,
"Is the LORD's hand shortened? Now see whether my word will come true for you or not" (Numbers 11:23).
As they were standing there,
"... a wind from the LORD sprang up and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side..." (Numbers 11:31).
A day's journey in those times was about 32-40 kms long (or 20-25 miles). It took the people about 36 hours to gather all the quail for their families. How eager they must have been. The tantrums momentarily evaporated since she got what she wanted. But there was reckoning hour. God didn't want a spoiled brat and so the discipline came even as they ate their meat. "A very great plague" struck down those people who had craved the meat and complained about how God couldn't do much for them and had given them a bad rap.
Are you in a wilderness of sorts right now? Ask of God in repentant, humble dependance to help sort you out. What was the difference between Moses' complaining and the peoples' complaints? Why was the LORD so gracious to Moses but seemingly unmerciful to the ungrateful coomplainers?
I think that God's child was unrepentant. The Israelites were no doubt happy to have the meat but they were not sorry for their disgruntled attitudes and behavior. Moses, by contrast, was acting in dependance upon the LORD and sincerely wanting to know His will in the matter. Moses was not being insolent.
It's time we should check our attitudes in similar situations we find ourselves undergoing, especially when the going gets tough. Cry out to the Lord to help you understand, seek Him and ask for His wisdom. When there seems to be no way for us to move forward and we are at our wit's end, let our Lord of the possible provide the way.
Why?
It's because, above all, we are His baby and we are precious in His sight.
~ERC April 2024~
Based on Numbers 11.
Sing, God Will Make A Way, along with Don Moen.
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