As we prepare to receive this morning’s message, let us come before the Lord in Prayer. Let’s pray: O Lord let the words of my mouth and the mediations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

In Cumberland County we are known to talk about the weather a great deal. A saying we often use; if you do not like the weather wait 5 minutes it will change. So what do we say about the weather? Well, it’s too hot, it’s too cold? We have too much rain? Not enough sunshine. Too windy. We call this talking about the weather but if we wanted too we could call it complaining. Why? Because there is absolutely nothing we can do about the weather it is all controlled by God, our creator, our sustainer. But this is what the Israelites are currently doing in our scripture reading today. (Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16-24-29).

The Israelites were God’s chosen People. Back in the Book of Exodus they were enslaved by the Egyptians, they cried out to God to rescue them from their enslavement. God called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, out of bondage, into a land flowing with milk and honey in other words freedom.

The Israelites ended up spending 40 years in the wilderness before they reached the Promise Land, meaning two generations. The Bible considers one generation to be 20 years. Some of the older Israelites who started out on this journey would have passed on but their family members would have heard stories about the enslavement, how they were treated, how they were fed, how they were sheltered. By the time this section of Numbers would have been experienced the Israelites had spend a great deal of time in the wilderness. They would be feeling frustrated, discouraged, depressed, after all when would this journey end? When would they be in the promise land? When they run out of food they complain to Moses about their hunger, their lack of food and why is God not providing for them on this journey. Moses takes his concerns to God. Why? Moses was called by God in the burning bush event to lead the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. God spoke directly to Moses and Moses communicated God’s words directly to the Israelites.

God provides manna food from heaven bread for their consumption. Manna. What is it? It was a white powdery substance which fell at night on the ground, it had to be gathered early in the morning before it got too hot or it would melt.

The Israelites gathered just enough for their meals each day, except for the Sabbath. The day before the Sabbath they would collect enough for two days as God did not send the manna on the Sabbath. Recall the 10 commandments, God gave Moses: Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. On all the other days if they gathered more than what was needed for one day whatever was left over would spoil. The Israelites would take this substance and make bread out of it to eat.

I want to back track just a bit. Numbers 10 the Israelites are currently camped at Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the ten commandments. They set out from here to continue their journey to the promise land. It has been a long, long time since they had left Egypt. For most of us a coffee and a cinnamon roll smothered with cream cheese icing is a treat. But image if you were to drink and eat this everyday for breakfast, lunch and supper for years. YA I hear you.

Well this is exactly what the Israelites were doing they were grumbling about their steady diet of manna. They were reminiscing about how good they had it in Egypt (We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for 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 to look at and eat but this manna.

It is important to remember the Exodus account; it was not only the people of Israel who came from Egypt but Egyptians as well as people from other nations also came with the people of Israel. It is this group called the rabble that start crying for meat and then the Israelites join in with them. Yet they had forgotten about their enslavement and how they had cried out to God to rescue them.

The Israelites in their reminiscing felt it cost them nothing to eat fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic. Did it cost them nothing? That food cost them their very lives as they were slaves in Egypt. But all they can think about is the variety of food. Even though this manna was made into breads, cakes, and pastries the Israelites could no longer stomach eating it.

The problem here is what people are communicating. They are essentially saying life was better before they knew God. Life was better when they were not on the way to the promise land. Life was better when they were enslaved. So....they are actually complaining about what they do not have. They are complaining about what God is not giving them.

In the first three verses they were complaining about what God was giving them in life (hardships).

Now they are complaining about what God is not giving them (a better menu of food). The Israelites had wept again and said” If only we had meat to eat! They remember the provisions of Egypt and complain against God’s provisions.

God says he will give the people meat to eat but they will not just eat it for one or two days but for a month until it comes out their noses and they hate it “because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’” (11:20). God says he is going to give the people so much meat that they will hate it.

We need to remember back in the Book of Exodus the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and cried to God to rescue them from their bondage. Yet when they got tired of the manna God was sending to them so they could eat, the Israelites forgot about their enslavement and how they cried out to God to rescue them. We know this when we read the question why did we come out of Egypt? (Numbers 11:20).

Now we see how sensitive Moses has become from dealing with these people day after day.

Moses can’t understand how it will be possible to feed over 600,000 people meat. We can’t even kill all our flocks for us to have meat to eat (11:22). God, what you said is not possible. Now before we go on I want us to catch something. You have heard this story before. You have seen this happen before in the New Testament. When Jesus is going to feed the 5000, Jesus tells the disciples to not send the people away but to give them food to eat (Matthew 14:16). Remember the response of the disciples is the same. I wanted you to see Jesus modeling the events of the exodus and the wilderness so the people will see Jesus as the greater Moses. So back to Numbers 11 we see God’s answer to be simple.

Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Is there something God cannot do? The hand of the Lord speaks to his power. Is it possible for God’s hand to not accomplish what he says? Now you will see whether my word will come true for you or not. God can and will always do what he says. Moses understands something the people do not understand: it is not about Moses. The people think it is about them. Our life is hard. We do not have the food we want to eat. We want what we want when we want it. We deserve certain things from God. We think God should do things for us. But Moses understands it is not about himself but about God. The people think it is about themselves; so that is why they complain.

This leads us to what God is going to do to teach the people.

There are so many problems with the sin of complaining. First, our complaints are received by God as acts of faithlessness. We are not happy with what God is doing for us. We are telling God we know better than he. We are telling God this life he has ordered is not good enough. When we complain we are undervaluing the provisions of God. Is this not what the people say throughout this chapter? They are complaining about their hardships. They are complaining about the food they are eating. God is doing a terrible job. Ultimately, complaining is the rejecting of the Lord who is with us on this journey. We are in the wilderness on the way to the promise land.

How many times have we complained against the Lord about our circumstances, about our provisions, and about our possessions? How about the words of these Israelites? Our strength is dried up and we can no longer go with the Lord because of what is happening in our lives and what God is doing for us.

What Moses says is the answer to complaining and the answer to walking by faith: it is not about me. I am not important in God’s story. My life is a part of God’s story. God is not a part of my life story. I am part of God’s story. May God use me as an instrument in his service. This is what Moses understands. This must be our outlook on life if we will walk by faith and avoid complaining.

This leaves us with the final piece of the account. What did these people need? They needed an intercessor to go before God. The wrath of God is deserved against us for all our complaining. How often we have been faithless toward God because we have complained about his provisions or about the hardships of life. But God has given us an intercessor who goes before God on our behalf so that we do not have to experience the wrath of God. Jesus is our faithful intercessor whose sacrifice makes atonement possible, covering over our sins.

Put away the heart of complaining and grab hold of Jesus as our faithful advocate and intercessor who saves us from the wrath of God which we most certainly deserve. It is not about me. It is about God. It is about his story, not mine. Our lives are in his hands and he will use us for his purposes. Amen