The People Complain

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every weekday morning, you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for God together. Uh-oh. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of Nope.
Numbers, Deuteronomy and Hebrews. Now Nathan asked a question. He said, he thought when we kept saying we're going to go through them that maybe Hebrews went after Deuteronomy. But that doesn't make sense because Hebrews is in the New Testament. So he asked why? Why are we doing the book of Hebrews this year?
And I said that Hebrews is largely a commentary for Jewish people on largely the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. And so Nathan said, not of the book of Judges? Nope, because Judges is not part of the Pentateuch, right? Penta means five, first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Now it does go some into judges, and we'll talk a little bit about that. But it's largely about the priesthood, and about the tabernacle, and how we understand even like Abraham's faith and stuff like that.
So, why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into the book of Numbers. What coffee? Do you want some of mine? No? Okay. Is it okay if I put my tea down and get my water? Yeah, I can put your tea down. All right, let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. God, we pray that you would help us to read and to understand, to trust and believe in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, Numbers chapter 11. beginning at verse 1 and we're going to read through verse 15. I feel like I'm a chapter behind you. Numbers chapter 11 beginning at verse 1. Nathan, can you read verses 1, 2, and 3? Deborah, you can read 4, 5, and 6. Daniel. Daniel. I'm trying to find numbers. You're in the New Testament. There's numbers. Nope, too far. Leviticus. One more. Numbers. Numbers 11 verse 7. You're going to read Numbers 11 verse 7. Well, you're in chapter 4. Let's find you Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. And you'll be at verse 7. Numbers chapter 11 beginning at verse 7.
Daniel, read that. And then I'll read 8 through 15. Daddy, my shoes are this big. Yeah, your shoes are size 11 too. Good job. Alright Debra, go ahead. You're gonna read 11, 1 through 3. Oh, Daniel's doing 1, 2, 3? Hold on, please. I'm so overwhelmed. Okay. Wait, please. Wait, don't read over people. Nathan, 1 through 3. Deborah, 4 through 6. Daniel,
7. Daddy, 8 to the end. You get to listen. Alright Nathan, go ahead.
Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord poured among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out, Alright, so what happens there? God gets angry. His fire burns. Why? Because they complained. We don't know what they complained about yet, and so we'll come back to that. Alright Debra, can you read four through six?
Now the mixed multitude was among them, yielding to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, They will give us meat to eat. We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the lemons, the leeks, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
But now our whole being is dried up and there's nothing at all except for this manna before our eyes. Okay, so what happens there? I'm tired of eating cake. Yeah, so there's manna before our eyes. We'll talk about the manna in a second. Instead of watermelon and onions and garlic and cakes.
Yeah, right. So they lived in Goshen, which was up by the Nile Delta. And it had lots of rich farmland. And there were fish. And they're looking back at Egypt. And they're like, man, those were the good old days. Were they the good old days? No. They also don't remember the slavery and how to make bricks. Yeah, they're not seeming to remember all that the Lord had redeemed them out of.
Right? Okay. Now the manna. Oh, sorry, Daniel. You're verse 7. Now the manna. The manna... Zephyr's turn. Now the manna was like... Coriander. And a seed. Seed. And it's color... Color? Like the color... Try that again. Color. Color. Fidelium. What's that? Fidelium is like a resin from a tree, like sap. It's like a whitish sap.
The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones, or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And its taste was like the taste of a pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.
No, not like that. It tasted like apple fritters. Yeah, maybe something like apple fritters, right? It tasted something sweet, like with honey and almost like a pastry, it seems like. But they were able to grind it, they were able to put it in a mortar, they were able to fry it up in a pan, right? No, the manna tasted like a pastry.
Yeah, sometimes remember when you're on vacation and we bought too much ice cream and we're eating ice cream every night. You just like don't want an ice cream. Yeah, so maybe like when we go on vacation we eat too much ice cream and you find yourself actually not wanting any more ice cream because you're all ice creamed out. I wanted more. You wanted more ice cream? Well, let's go ahead. Okay, let's finish reading. Okay, let's finish reading please. Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, Why have you afflicted your servant?
And why have I not found favor in your sight that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that you should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, Give us meat that we may eat. I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now, if I have found favor in your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.
So what happens in that part of the story? He's got a Job moment. He has a Job moment? Right? Now Moses is almost complaining to the Lord, right? But what's he complaining about? Yeah, what can Moses not do? Yeah, specifically meat, right? Yeah, your finger. Yeah, he can't produce all the meat that the people are wanting. Can he just make meat appear out of thin air? Yeah. No, Moses can't do that. And he's saying, I don't think this is fair, Lord.
Why am I being burdened by all these people like this? So, let's see here. So the people, let's try to summarize all of this. Try to put all these parts together in one sentence. How would you describe what's going on, Debra? The people are being... Ungrateful. Okay, the people are being ungrateful? What about you, Elbow? That's enough. What about you, Elbow?
What would you say is going on here? Do you want to pass? He's like... He's like, why are you... Why are you saying to me? Okay. Bubba? Um... I think Moses is crying out to God. Moses is crying out to God. Good. Daniel, what do you think is going on here? I think it needs to... I can't handle all these people. Why have you done this to me? That's right. Good. Good. Well, what do you guys think we're called to do? Right? As we read over this. Do you think God is glorified when people complain? Nope. Do you think it's natural and normal for us to do that? Yep. But should we? What do you think this shows the people about how they think about God? How are the people thinking about God? Worse than Pharaoh. Yeah, they're thinking God is worse than Pharaoh. Could you imagine thinking that? He redeemed them. He's leading them. They just started marching. Right? They just left Sinai. It's only been one year. And what would they rather go back to? Slavery. They'd rather go back to slavery. Yeah, Dad.
I was thinking, like, if you... Like, we do the same. This is kind of like, like, the first, um, the, uh, The last four books of the Pentateuch are like Moses' diaries. And so like if you crossed out Moses' name every time and changed it to like I or me, it would just be like a giant diary. Yeah, it's kind of like Moses' diary. That's right.
Yeah, what were you going to say, Nathan? Well, it kind of reminded me of, like, when, like, sin. Like, sometimes you're, like, like, it was, it reminded me of, like, the rock, the sea that grew up really quickly, but then it floated away. Like, they were, like, oh, wait, let's do this. And then they did it, and then they kind of walked, and they're, like, you know, it was kind of better doing what we did. But then they're going to go back, and they're going to think again.
Yeah, the deceitfulness of wealth and the cares of this life can choke out the seed. I think one of the things also that I'm called to do is remember to be patient, right? The Lord may not give me what I want in this season of life, but is it good for us? Yeah, and so being patient, right? Wherever the king is leading, can we trust that he's leading us in a good path?
Yeah. Alright, let's go ahead and pray. Nice knees. Well, Lord, we thank you so much for this day. Father, we pray wherever you might lead us that we would follow. We pray that we would not be grumblers and complainers, that we would not think that your yoke is heavy. Lord, but we pray that you would remind us of the freedom you have given us in Jesus Christ, that we are no longer slaves to sin and death, but you have redeemed us, and you are our King, that you give us our daily bread, and that you watch over us as our Father in heaven. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you follow where the King leads. And we'll see you next time. You guys want to say bye? Bye!
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa,