Numbers 11:4-6 - The rabble with them began to crave other
food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we
had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt
at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But
now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
They had been eating the sweet manna God rained from heaven
each morning for a little over a year… but that wasn’t enough to satisfy their
cravings for the fresh veggies and meat they had had in Egypt. The past that
had once been so appalling to them…became a temptation. They let it sink so deep down in their heart
that it took over their emotions…and they wept over it.
It got to Moses too.
He cried out to God how to handle it…their emotions weighing him down …creating a deep burden for these people God had given
him charge of. He told God to just kill
him now if he was going to bear this alone….but if he had found favor to create
a support group for him to ease the pain he felt from these deep emotions.
God answered Moses right away…asking him to call together 70
elders together ….so God could fill them with part of Moses burden. And while
they met and prayed together…God came up with his way of dealing with the
people’s lust of meat. He was going to
give it to them…in such abundance that they could eat of it for a whole month.
It wasn’t just a simple fix for their prayer…It was a way
for God to weed out the ones that had let lust so consume them that they
mistrusted the God they had promised to serve.
He provided the meat they craved…but all that ate it immediately became
sick and died…a costly price for the dinner they so wished for.
It is a great reminder to me that just because we want
something…doesn’t mean it will be good for us. Lust isn’t just a term for
sexual desires…we can lust after money…power…drugs…alcohol…or anything else
that is forbidden to us. If God allows the temptation to manifest it will
produce strife….conflict… assassinate our character… produce selfishness… and
bring sin and perversity that will separate our soul from the only one that can
remove the desires that started our troubles.
God can give us victory over these desires that will consume
and destroy us in the end. Just as he gave Moses a strong group of men to share
his burden…he can give his power that will conquer even death. One of the keys
is to constantly walk in His spirit….as Galatians 5:16 says… “ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and
you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” A good dose of prayer and meditation on specific
scriptures that we can use to speak the temptations away…just as Jesus did….will
go a long way too.
Father...thank you for the reminder that I need to be
careful what I ask for. Forgive me for
the times that I complained about my lot in life…and did not trust you to fully
provide for what you know I need. Help me to throw off any desires that might
lead to sin in my life…and give me your strength to trust you only for what I
need. Amen.
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