Scripture Reading: Numbers 11:1-9
The Israelite journey out of Egypt to the land of promise is a story filled with wonders, signs and miracles—the plagues of Egypt, crossing the divided sea, witnessing the glory of God descending on the mountain to meet with Moses, and much more. Also, it is a story of a people inclined to be ungrateful and complain when things became difficult.
One obvious miracle was manna, bread from heaven that rained down in the morning to feed the Israelites. In spite of this constant provision of food in the middle of a barren desert, the Israelites answer this provisioning with complaints of having no meat, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!” (Exodus 16:3).
Israelite memories of a full stomach in bondage blocked their recollections of the cruelty and injustice of enslavement by their Egyptian masters. Instead of concentrating on the land of hope and promise waiting for them, they could only see hardship in their present liberty. They chose to long for life in the shackles of bondage and forced labor in order to have a comfortable meal. Like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew, the Israelites were willing to forfeit freedom and blessings for themselves and their descendants in order to eat to their full.
Israel failed to recognize the wilderness was only their path, not their destination. Manna wasn’t designed to make them comfortable in the wilderness, but to sustain them through the wilderness until they reached the land of promise. At times we are not comfortable in our current circumstances because we are not set to be there forever, only until we reach our next destination.
We can be like the Israelites ourselves, looking fondly at the comforts of our past bondage instead of focusing on the promises of the future. The question whether to go back to Egypt or move forward to the untested, unknown land of promise can be a paralyzing moment of indecision. Difficult times can make us remember only the good of our past and fill us with fear of the future.
The past is never as comforting as we remember, nor is the future as frightening as we fear it to be.
Lesson to Remember: If you are not comfortable in your current circumstances, it is because you are not supposed to stay there long.
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 3:13-14
