Numbers chapter 11 makes me laugh.
The first sentence starts out, "And the people complained" [again].
God responds to their complaints by sending down fire.
Next, they decide they want some meat. And they whine about what a lovely variety of food they had while they were enslaved in Egypt. Yes, they may have been beaten, they may have done hard physical labor the majority of their waking hours, they may have had to sacrifice their children, but they had free food--fish, melons, cucumbers, garlic, onions, and leeks, to be specific (and may I point out, only one of those mentioned is a meat, and not even a full-time meat like steak). Then God took them out of all that oppression, continued the free food deal, but only served them manna. The nerve..
Then Moses starts complaining about the Israelites complaining and he uses this great argument: "Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' [...]?" And then he says, basically, if God's going to continue to treat him like this, He should just kill him now.
(I understand that Moses didn't have it easy, but those statements make me think of a response a dramatic teenager might have upon being asked to babysit her little brother on the night of a high school party.)
God, I'm sure impressed with Moses' mature debate skills, gives him some helpers. And He promises meat. Lots of meat. And I quote, "Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you."
Moses questions this statement.
Which drives me crazy. I mean, seriously, Mo. How do you still not believe?
And God responds, "Is the Lord's hand shortened?", which I think is like saying, "Really? Remember the sea? Remember the manna? Yeah. I can still do stuff like that."
Then, sure enough, there's quail the next day.
But, God, still a little mad about the whole thing, also delivered a plague.
Classic.
As much as I think this whole chapter seems a little ridiculous, I know there are similarly ridiculous times in my life.
I pray for things. Okay, I whine and I complain about things. Then, God answers my prayer. I'm happy for a little while, but soon enough I begin whining again, having found something else to be unsatisfied about (or about which to be unsatisfied, if you're a grammar connoisseur).
Confession: mostly, lately, I whine about what I'm doing with my life.
I wonder if God ever says to me, "Oh, you want something to do? You'll have so much to do with your life, you'll have plans coming out your nose."
Actually, I'm pretty sure He does. I just didn't hear Him because I was whining. I'm pretty sure, because I do have plans coming out my nose (figuratively speaking, of course).
[Need something to do with your life? I have a plan you can have, fresh out of my nostril! (I'll leave that last part out in my ad campaign)]
And then there's old Mo. For him to question God in this passage makes me shake my head in disbelief. Yet, I am guilty. I know all the incredible things God can do. I have seen some with my very own eyes. Then, He gives me a promise and I wonder how He's going to make it happen. I suppose, for a second, like Moses, I forget about the Red Sea and the manna and for a moment it seems impossible. And in that moment God says, "Is the Lord's hand shortened?"
Praise Him it is not, nor ever will be.
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