23rd.: No Food in the Wilderness of Sin, part 1
The Israelites passed through a lush placed called Elim, as they traveled to the Wilderness of Sin.
Upon arriving at the Wilderness of Sin they complained,
“... against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them,
‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full.
For ye have brought us forth unto this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’” (Exo. 16:2-3).
This generation of the children of Israel had just seen the miracles of the plagues.
They had seen God dramatically defeat the Egyptian army.
Nevertheless, they claimed that it would have been better for them to die in slavery in Egypt,
than to die of starvation in a wilderness.
Apparently, they had already forgotten the misery of slavery.
Why could they not have simply asked God for food.
Or does simply, politely, asking, require a certain amount of humility?
It was like they were too proud to simply ask God for food.
So, they complained.
How often do we complain?
Sometimes, some of us must go through times of need.
Instead of complaining about what we don’t have,
let us remember to simply ask God to provide for our absolute needs.
“Not that I speak in respect of want. For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Phili 4:11)