Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29    

Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29

How often do you complain? I know that’s a blunt question. A bit in your face. I am including myself in the “you” above, so I admit to my sin of the lip. I think I complain more than I realize. And if no one happens to be around, we can still carry the “complaint of attitude.” So, we all do it. And probably more than we know.

There is significant complaining going on in our Old Testament reading for the week. And as is so often the case, complaining comes when we look back and compare where we are or what we have now with a better day. A seemingly better day. “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic” (11:4b-5). Their complaining goes on, and the fact that they complained against God’s miraculous provision of manna shows the corruption of their hearts. 

Like the good Father God is, He teaches His wayward children by giving them precisely what they ask for (in their rebellion) and more. So much more. The result is a stinking rot. And judgment. Complaint against God happens a lot in the Bible. And there are complaints He deems worthy of hearing. Then there is the type of complaint that simply wants its own way and the Lord’s will is the furthest thing from the thought of the complainer. That is what we are dealing with here. And the end is never good.

Today-check your own heart. Are you satisfied with the gifts of God? Or perhaps you have contrived a better way. Think again. Ask God for the gift of repentance.. Ask for and receive His forgiveness. Praise Him with a full and restored heart. And rejoice in His provision of all good gifts. Amen!