What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? The worst conditions, the worst co-workers, the most ungrateful customers, the most divided leadership team?
Okay, now think of taking a million men, women and children:
· Through the desert;
· On foot;
· The people probably don’t have the best self-image;
· No food or water supplies; and
· Maybe not very educated.
So there is Moses leading the Isrealites out of Egypt. Hurrah, God miraculously delivered them from that oppressive situation with tons of gold, silver and other treasures the Egyptians pressed on them as they left just to get them out of there.
Then God gave them a daily source of food, made sure their clothes didn’t wear out and found enough water for all the people and their livestock. Wow!
They camped out in the desert for awhile as God set up some laws and rules by which they could live, and develop a nation out of themselves.
Then came Numbers 11. The people started complaining because they wanted some meat in addition to the bread they got every day. Who can blame them? The same thing to eat every day gets a little old.
But these people wouldn’t let go of their resentment. They thought about how good they had it back in Egypt – cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. Mmmmm! (“Oh, being in slavery? Well maybe it wasn’t that bad!”)
Moses had had it. He started in on God. To paraphrase, he asked God why He had punished him so terribly. Why did he have to carry the weight of all this responsibility? These weren’t Moses’ kids, his children! Why did he have to carry them around as if they were a bunch of babies? Where was Moses supposed to find meat for them to eat? All these people did was cry all over him!
He ended his discourse by telling God he’d rather die than keep doing this job.
HOW MANY TIMES have you at least felt the same way even if you haven’t actually said it? But when you look at the situation from the outside it’s easier to see how funny it sounds.
After all, God has pretty good solutions to our problems. In this case He told Moses to go get 70 elders, God would give them some of the ability and power He’d given Moses, and those men would help share the burden of leadership.
Okay, now think of taking a million men, women and children:
· Through the desert;
· On foot;
· The people probably don’t have the best self-image;
· No food or water supplies; and
· Maybe not very educated.
So there is Moses leading the Isrealites out of Egypt. Hurrah, God miraculously delivered them from that oppressive situation with tons of gold, silver and other treasures the Egyptians pressed on them as they left just to get them out of there.
Then God gave them a daily source of food, made sure their clothes didn’t wear out and found enough water for all the people and their livestock. Wow!
They camped out in the desert for awhile as God set up some laws and rules by which they could live, and develop a nation out of themselves.
Then came Numbers 11. The people started complaining because they wanted some meat in addition to the bread they got every day. Who can blame them? The same thing to eat every day gets a little old.
But these people wouldn’t let go of their resentment. They thought about how good they had it back in Egypt – cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. Mmmmm! (“Oh, being in slavery? Well maybe it wasn’t that bad!”)
Moses had had it. He started in on God. To paraphrase, he asked God why He had punished him so terribly. Why did he have to carry the weight of all this responsibility? These weren’t Moses’ kids, his children! Why did he have to carry them around as if they were a bunch of babies? Where was Moses supposed to find meat for them to eat? All these people did was cry all over him!
He ended his discourse by telling God he’d rather die than keep doing this job.
HOW MANY TIMES have you at least felt the same way even if you haven’t actually said it? But when you look at the situation from the outside it’s easier to see how funny it sounds.
After all, God has pretty good solutions to our problems. In this case He told Moses to go get 70 elders, God would give them some of the ability and power He’d given Moses, and those men would help share the burden of leadership.
Plus, God would give the people more meat than they would ever want. He'd feed them meat until they got sick of it.
Poof. That’s all we have to do. Simple. Just tell God what your problem is and He’ll help you figure it out. Don’t get me wrong – from what I can tell reading the Psalms God wants us to express ourselves and be honest about how we’re feeling.
You have to let the truth be exposed so you and God can deal with it. So tell God how you really feel. Then let Him figure out the right solution and tell you how to deal with it. He’ll straighten things up. That way, it’ll all work out.
Proverbs 3:5-6, New King James version: “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
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