Posted on 09/26/2009 9:50:47 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“Oh, That We Had Meat to Eat!” (Numbers 11:4-6, 10-15)
“Oh, That We Had Meat to Eat!” Well, we certainly did have meat to eat yesterday, didn’t we? We had pork steak and bratwurst and hot dogs--all kinds of delicious meat to eat at our Men’s Club barbecue. But as you might guess, that is not what I am referring to when I say, “Oh that we had meat to eat!”
No, rather, this line comes from our Old Testament text for today, from Numbers 11. And instead of being a positive recollection of a nice thing like our barbecue, this use of “Oh that we had meat to eat!” is a negative complaint, against God and against his servant Moses. It reads as follows: “Now the rabble that was among [the children of Israel] had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’”
This text, my friends, this text is a picture of us. For we too complain against God--and sometimes against his servants, too--when we cry out, in one way or another, “Oh, that we had meat to eat!” And today we will see how this Scripture serves as both a warning and an encouragement for us: a warning against falling into unbelief, and an encouragement to find our forgiveness and our renewal in Christ.
The setting for our text is this: The Lord had led his people Israel out of bondage in Egypt, through his servant Moses, led them out into the wilderness, and was bringing them up to the land that he had promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yes, Israel had seen the Lord’s faithfulness to his promises of old. The Lord had heard their cry for deliverance and he remembered his promises. He brought them out of bondage with a mighty hand. He brought them to Sinai and made a covenant with them. He stayed with them, even though they had shown themselves to be an adulterous people. The Lord provided for them along the way, in the wilderness, on the way to the Promised Land. He provided manna from heaven, quail in the desert, and water from a rock. He had done these things for them years earlier and he would do so for them again. The Lord was more gracious to them than they deserved. And the Lord had set before them the promise of the land he would bring them into, a land flowing with milk and honey and with all sorts of goodness and abundance.
And still they complained. They complained and grumbled and murmured. They complained that the Lord’s provision along the way was not as good as the food they remembered from back in Egypt. “We’re sick of this manna,” they murmured. “At least back in Egypt we had tastier food!” The irony was, of course, back in Egypt they were slaves! And here the Lord had given them freedom and was bringing them up to a good land where they would have plenty. Yet they wanted to go back to Egypt. That was more familiar to them, even though it meant slavery for them. So they griped and groused and grumbled.
As I say, this is a picture of us. For we too grumble and grouse and gripe and complain and murmur. If we didn’t have something to complain about, we’d probably complain about that! “Why doesn’t God give us more to complain about? We’re feeling a little short-changed here, God!” What an unruly, ungrateful flock we are!
And so, not content just to complain against God, Israel also took it out on their pastor, Pastor Moses. He made for a convenient target. Now I don’t want to turn this into a pastor’s pity party here, because I know at least one pastor who doesn’t do near as good a job as Moses and thus brings some of his problems on himself. But the point is, when we grumble against God, we often take out our frustration on the people around us, who are easier to blame. It’s been like that from the beginning, hasn’t it? Adam blamed Eve and thus indirectly blamed God, who had given the woman to him. Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent. We always want to blame somebody else for our own failings and shortcomings.
We grumble and complain, we fight and quarrel. Like Israel, we want to go back to Egypt. We have seen the Lord’s faithfulness to us, we have heard his promises, we have received his provision, yet we want to go back to Egypt. We want to go back into slavery, into bondage. At least that seemed familiar. We want to go back to the ways of the world, which are all around us and which are calling out to us. The worldlings we know are our friends and neighbors. We want to fit in, blend in, be like them. The culture calls to us, like a seductive siren beckoning us to the rocky shoals. And so we say, “Who needs this wilderness waybread? We’re tired of this--what is it, ‘manna’? ‘Oh, that we had meat to eat!’ Let us go back to the fleshpots of Egypt!”
Think about how we envy the people of this world: “Why, they have their weekends entirely free! They don’t feel like they have to go to church! Hey, I could sleep in on Sundays!” “You know, the people of this world have a lot more disposable income, to spend on things like powerboats and pleasure craft. They don’t get guilted into putting their hard-earned money into the offering plate!” “Think of it! Nobody would be asking me to serve in a church office! Wouldn’t life be great!” “And then there are those dusty old hymns and that boring old liturgy. Who needs all that sin-and-grace talk? No, if I’ve got to have a little dab of religion, I’d rather have stuff that appeals to self-interest. Give me entertainment and seven-step how-to messages. Word and Sacraments? No, bread and circuses!” “Oh, that we had meat to eat!”
The warning for us here today is that we not fall back into unbelief. If we tire of God’s ways and long for the ways of the world, the danger is that we may just get what we wish for. And that would be disaster for us. It is better for us to enter into life subsisting on the manna God gives us than to feast on the fatness of the world and be cast into hell. The journey that God leads us on may not always be easy or luxurious, but it is the only path that leads to life.
And so then here is the encouragement for us today, dear friends. Our gracious God does not cast us aside, even though we have grumbled and complained. For there is one who makes intercession for us. Just as Moses interceded for Israel, pled on their behalf that they would be spared in spite of their sins, and they were--in a much greater way, our divine deliverer, Jesus Christ, intercedes for us, pleads on our behalf that we would be saved eternally, and we are! We are saved from God’s righteous anger against ungrateful grumblers. By grace we are saved for everlasting life in the Promised Land of heaven. Christ our Savior is interceding for us. His holy blood pleads for us before God’s throne of grace.
Moses felt the burden of the sins of his rebellious people. In a much greater way, Jesus bore the burden of the sins of the whole world and carried that unbearable burden to the cross, where he bled and died for us. Now the weight of sin is lifted from our shoulders and we are free. Hell holds no terror for us. Satan has no power over us. The Holy Spirit renews our minds and hearts, renews our mouths and attitudes. The promises of God enliven our steps and lift our drooping spirits, as we plod along on a sometimes dreary way. Hope, the sure hope of heaven, lifts our vision beyond the horizon of the humdrum. The lifeblood of love flows through our veins, and we begin to love others with the love which we ourselves have received from God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus now is your freedom and contentment. Jesus now is your provision along the way and your promise of the sweet and blessed country to come. Jesus now is cleansing for your complaining and grace for your grumbling. He is the living bread that comes down from heaven, and you eat of it and you shall live.
“Oh, that we had meat to eat!” I’ve got news for you, dear friends, good news: Egypt ain’t got nothin’ on the kingdom of God!
Now the rabble that was among [the children of Israel] had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. . . .”
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Ping.
But now our strength is dried up
*******
My strength dried up about 2.5 years ago at age 40. And I have an abundence of meat but food now longer tastes good. How long before strength is restored?
Can any body who has been through the hell I’m currently going through tell me, please?
How much longer does it last?
Knowledge is the true meat of God.
And as they say, Knowledge is power.
So hungry you could eat a horse?
Two states warred over a woman.
One state was the Greeks and the other was claimed to eventually become the Italians.
The battle was resolved when a horse construct was left at the city’s gate and subsequently taken inside.
(”Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”)
Ironically there was one Ha’sus, Jesus, (Ha’sus, translates to “the horse” in Hebrew), that was born in the kingdom of Israel.
The majority of the Israelites at the time refused to accept him.
The rest is history.
How great it is to know we have the grace of Christ which saves us from eternal hell.
BUMP For tonight. Thank you! :)
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