Numbers
11 – The Complaint of the People
Every
time the people complained, the glory of the Lord appeared. He was displeased with their groaning and
their complaining. Who started this? It was the mixed multitude. They were
products of mixed marriages. Each of
them had one parent back in Egypt and one parent in the camp of Israel. They were Egyptian enough to like Egypt, and
they were Israelite enough to want to go on the wilderness journey. We have people in our churches like that
today. They want to be moral and live
upstanding lives; so, they join a church. Then during the week, they run with
the world. They are a mixed multitude. They
are not sure if they are born again- they don’t know their pedigree. They are not quite clear about what they
believe. They are never happy when
others are having a real time of spiritual blessing. They’re uncomfortable in the church, but they
are also uncomfortable in the world.
The
children of Israel became infected with this complaining, and they began to
weep along with the mixed multitude.
They start to complain about the manna.
They have the manna to eat, and it is miraculously provided by God every
day, but they don’t like it. When they went through the wilderness, their feet
did not swell. They did not get sick from the manna. That manna had all the necessary vitamins in
it. It was God’s food. That manna speaks of Christ. How many Christians get
tired of manna today?
Moses
wasn’t a perfect man. He was just a
plain human being who was mightily used of God.
Moses said he would rather be dead than go through what he was going
through with this crowd! Moses made a mistake in complaining like this to
God. Moses said that he was the one who
was bearing all these people. Well, he wasn’t.
God was bearing them and bearing Moses. God very patiently, provides
some assistance for Moses. Seventy elders were appointed. God had called Moses
to lead the people, and God would provide the strength for Moses to do that. If
you feel that you are overworked or that you are doing too much, maybe you
really are. Maybe you are doing more
than God wants you to do. When they asked for Quail God answered their prayer
but gave them leanness in their soul. God tells Moses that for a whole month
they will eat flesh until it becomes loathsome to them. They demonstrated real
gluttony. God judges those things. “For if we judge ourselves, we should not be
judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should
not be condemned with the world.” I Cor.
11:31-31.
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