Our Peril and our False Needs

Numbers 11 and 12 contain a couple of interesting stories that bear some application to the Christian. In them we see man's lack of awareness of the peril he is in outside of God and how what we think we need can harm us.

The Children of Israel have just received the instructions for the Tabernacle and their marching orders (literally) from God. But as they travel through the desert on their way to the Promised Land they begin to complain to Moses.

Numbers 11:1 "And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned some of them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp."

It reminds me that as we go about our merry way and take potshots at the Lord for allowing us to go through difficulty that we don't realize what happens outside the grace of God. It's hot; it burns; it destroys.

We are not righteous on our own. If we are not part of the camp of God the family of God, then we are in mortal danger because no one can exist in God's presence unless he is perfect. And it is only in Jesus that we can be perfect.

The second story is only a few verses later when the people have a "strong craving" for the meat they had in Egypt. Egypt is a type of the world. Sometimes we Christians think back longingly to the way it was before we belonged to God. We think of the things we did that were sinful but seemingly pleasurable and we want that again.

In this case God gave them what they wanted: meat in the form of quail. They ate it until their tummies burst and then they experienced a plague because of it (starting in 11:31).

What they rebelled against was the Manna. Jesus said that He was the bread that fell from heaven. When we try to satisfy ourselves with the "meat" from the world and not the character of God in Jesus Christ, we may feel satisfied for a while, but it will only bring heartache in the end.

Pastor Tom