Remember how good the pleasures of the world are? Don't kid yourself.
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Numbers 11:1-4 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship,
and the LORD heard everything they said. Then the LORD's anger blazed against
them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the
people in the outskirts of the camp.
2 Then the people screamed to Moses
for help, and when he prayed to the LORD, the fire stopped.
3 After that, the area was known as
Taberah (which means "the place of burning"), because fire from the LORD had
burned among them there.
4 Then the foreign rabble who
were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt.
And the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they
exclaimed.
Nobody likes to move so it is no surprise that along the way some people start longing for home back where life was so good. Life was pretty good for God's people when they first arrived in Egypt but that's not the situation that these people experienced in their lifetime.
God took them to Egypt hundreds of years before to bless them but then
he also took them out of Egypt to bless them. When he took them to
Egypt it was to rescue them from a famine and when he took
them out of there it was also a huge relief.
But God's goodness to his people wasn't appreciated for very long, it only
took three days for the nation of Israel to start complaining after they left
the shores of the Red Sea, and then a year later after leaving Mount Sinai
God's people repeat history and begin complaining three days into the journey.
They didn't know it at the time but it was only an eleven day trip to their
destination. (Deuteronomy 1:2) Somewhere on this move towards the promise the
people start counting the cost and they compare the current situation with
their life back in the good old days. Even with a promised, glorious future
ahead of them they begin to long to go back.
Deuteronomy 1:32-33 "But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
God has worked in amazing ways in their lives, rescued them and made them
his own and gave them visible signs of his presence but when God
asked his people to trust his plan and his process they couldn't keep
the faith for eleven days.
Yes, food and water was scarce, yes the menu was the same everyday and yes,
Moses is still the leader. Everything that they needed from a human
perspective was provided graciously by God but none of those provisions were good enough. (Exodus 17:1–7; Numbers 12)
Numbers 11:20b For you have rejected the LORD, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"
The hardship is the wilderness, even for such a short time, made the pleasures of the world look way
better than they really are. Don't kid yourself! Today might be tough but God's people have a glorious future ahead!
The pleasures of the world have always been an enticement for God's
people. It started back in the Garden of Eden and hundreds of years later
God's people are still struggling with the pleasures of the world versus
the pleasures of God.
Numbers 11:23 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!"
After all of the time that God that showed his power and his love for his
people they still arrive at the border to the Promised Land and make the
wrong choice. They doubted God's word and trusted the word of the scouts.
They reported that God was telling them the truth when
he said that the land was awesome BUT they didn't believe God was telling the truth when he said
he would go before them and fight their battles. (Numbers 13:1-33)
Numbers 14:1 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.
What an extreme reaction! Where is the faith that God had been cultivating in his people for the past few years? The way God moved to defeat Egypt and bring his people to this moment in time and they still don't trust God's promise to give them the land.
God has a bright and glorious pleasure filled future for me in the Promised Land. I need to:
- Invite others to come along to experience God's blessings. (Numbers 10:29-32)
- Remember the worlds pleasures cannot compare to the pleasures that God has in store for me.
- Keep the faith when life gets hard by keeping my eyes on the goodness of God.
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