Numbers 11:18–23, 31–34
There is a dangerous moment when wanting something turns into believing we need it to be happy. Israel had reached that moment.
God had been feeding them every single day with manna. Free food. Delivered from heaven. No grocery bill, no meal planning and no standing in the kitchen at 5:30 wondering why nobody else in the house has an opinion about dinner. Yet Israel was tired of manna. They wanted meat.
Actually, “wanted” may be too gentle. They craved it. They complained about it. They romanticized their old life in Egypt because apparently slavery seemed better when remembered alongside fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. Memory can become surprisingly selective when we are dissatisfied.
God heard them and promised meat. Moses immediately started doing the math. There were hundreds of thousands of people in the wilderness. Where exactly was all this meat going to come from?
God responded with a question I need regularly: “Has my arm lost its power?” (Numbers 11:23, NLT).
Then the quail came. Not a few quail. Quail everywhere. Israel finally received exactly what they had been craving and that is where the story becomes sobering. What they wanted so desperately did not satisfy them. Their uncontrolled craving became part of God’s judgment and the place was eventually named Kibroth-hattaavah, which means “graves of gluttony.”
There is a warning here for us. We can become so focused on what we do not have that we stop thanking God for what He has already provided. We convince ourselves that we would finally be content if we had more money, a different job, a better house, a healthier relationship, greater recognition or whatever happens to be our personal version of quail.
Desire is not automatically sinful. Desire becomes dangerous when it begins controlling our gratitude, our attitude and our trust in God. Sometimes the greatest spiritual danger is not that God refuses to give us what we want. It is that we become so determined to have it that nothing else He gives us feels like enough.
Look around today. Before asking God for something more, thank Him for what is already lying on the ground in front of you. Do not let tomorrow’s craving blind you to today’s manna.
Jesus, teach us to want You more than we want what You can give us.