Scripture Daily

Context No. 2305 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 11:1-9: in context

1The people were complaining in the ears of the LORD. When the LORD heard it, his anger burned; and the LORD’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. 3The name of that place was called Taberah, because the LORD’s fire burned among them. 4The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; 6but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” 7The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. 8The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil. 9When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

In the wilderness, the people grow discontented with God's provision. They had the manna, the bread God rained down from heaven each day, a daily miracle of provision. But they crave meat, and they despise the manna: we remember the fish we ate in Egypt, they say, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic; but now our appetite is gone, there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. They complain against God's daily provision, fixing on what they lacked rather than being grateful for what they had.

The discontent of the people is striking because of what they despised. The manna was God's daily provision, miraculous bread from heaven, given fresh every morning, sustaining them in the wilderness where there was no other food. And they despised it: nothing but this manna, they complained, as though God's daily miracle were a poor and tiresome thing. Their eyes were fixed not on the good God gave but on what they lacked, the varied food of Egypt; and their craving for what they did not have turned even God's gracious provision into an occasion for complaint. This is a discontent we are all prone to. God gives us much, provides for our needs, sustains us daily; and yet we can fix our eyes not on the good he gives but on what we lack, on what others have that we do not, on the things we crave and do not possess. And this discontent turns even God's good provision into an occasion for complaint, so that we despise what we have because we are fixed on what we lack, ungrateful for God's gifts because we want something else. The people had daily bread from heaven and despised it, craving the food of Egypt; and we can have much and despise it, craving what we do not have. This searches our own contentment. Do we receive God's provision with gratitude, or fix on what we lack and complain, despising what we have because we want something else? The people despised the manna, God's daily gift, because they craved the food of Egypt; and their discontent was, at root, ingratitude for God's good provision. I have learned, Paul says, in whatever state I am, to be content. Contentment receives God's provision with gratitude rather than despising it for what it lacks. This calls us to contentment and gratitude for God's provision rather than the discontent that despises it. The people despised the manna, fixing on what they craved rather than being grateful for God's daily gift; and we too can despise God's provision, fixing on what we lack rather than giving thanks for what we have. Let us not be like them, complaining against God's good gifts because we crave something else, but receive his provision with gratitude, content with what he gives, fixing our eyes on his daily goodness rather than on what we lack, and giving thanks for the manna, the daily provision, rather than despising it in our craving for what we do not have.

Do I fix my eyes on what I lack, on what others have that I do not, craving what I do not possess, so that I despise and complain against God's good provision rather than giving thanks for it, and can the people who despised the manna, God's daily miraculous bread, because they craved the food of Egypt, warn me against the discontent that turns God's gifts into occasions for complaint, moving me to receive his provision with gratitude and contentment, fixing my eyes on his daily goodness rather than on what I lack?

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