The Israelites had been rescued from Egypt by God, He had parted the Red Sea, given them water, and began to rain down manna from Heaven for them to eat 6 days a week. He even rained down a double portion on the 6th day to hold them over for the 7th. Every morning when they woke, the manna had fallen from the sky with the morning dew. All they had to do was go out and collect enough food for that day. It wasn’t long though that the Israelites began to complain and grumble about the manna.
Listen to their whining in Numbers 11:5-6:
We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.
Don’tcha just wanna smack em?! I mean come on! The GOD OF THE UNIVERSE specially prepares food for you everyday, sprinkles it all over your yard, all you have to do is bring it inside, and you wanna gripe about it??
As irritated as I get at them, I realize it sounds an awful lot like us (notice I said us, me included!). When it comes to things to help us grow in our relationship with Him, things to strengthen us, He rains them down everyday.
And we don’t bring it inside.
Instead, we grumble about it.
We live in an era like this world has never seen. He rains down manna everyday through the technology of our generation. We have Christian radio, online broadcasts, encouraging words through facebook, automatic email devotions, Christian television, blogs, Christian bookstores that are open 6 days a week, we have our churches, 6 or 8 Bibles strown about our homes, Bible studies available on every subject imaginable, online Bible tools, etc, - yet I hear this statement often, a statement that breaks my heart:
“I’m just not getting fed.”
Could it be that we (me included again!) have become like the Israelites and “now our appetite is gone”?
They became sick of the manna, but look at what they were focusing on – they were thinking of all the things they liked to eat when they were in Egypt, however, they failed to mention the horrible life of slavery they lived under when they were there.
Proverbs 16:26 says this:
A worker’s appetite works for him, for his hunger urges him on.
Our appetites can work for us, our hunger can urge us on to know more about him, to “be fed”. Maybe we just don’t have an appetite, maybe we haven’t allowed ourselves to feel real “hunger”, and maybe we should give that a try. Oh - we know we “need to”, but true hunger, we don’t go that far, we can’t leave everything else alone long enough.
No church, no pastor, no website, no blog, no author, no devotional book is going to feed us. Sure a new book, a new study, even a new church will seem to feed us for a while, but unless we get to the heart of the matter, our true hunger for God and our need for it, we will always end up in the same place.
Jesus said “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.” (John 6:35)
When it comes to Him being the Bread of Life, I want my eyes to be bigger than my stomach, as the old saying goes. I want to be so hungry for Him that I overfill my plate with Him. I mean, I want it spillin’ over the sides, now! You know why?
Because then I will always be full of Him.
And I will always have some of Him to share with you.
I don’t want to be like the Israelites, God, but I know that I sometimes am just that. I look to so many places, even good places, places that offer things of You, to feed me what only You can provide. Let me look onto my “yard” everyday and collect what You have rained down for me. Show me how to use it in the recipes of life so that You are part of every bit of my days. Lord, I don’t want a sour stomach void of appetite. I know how I worry over my girls when the won’t eat, so I can’t imagine what it does to You when I don’t collect what You have to feed me. Increase our hunger, and if we’ve never truly felt it, take us to that place so that we never forget it and are always looking to return to it. Give us eyes bigger than our stomachs, God.
Royal Princess Daughter Of The King
"I'm just not getting fed." I too, am brokenhearted whenever I hear that statement, and I've heard it a lot.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned all of the tools we have available to us. We have more information available to us now, than anyone has ever had. We are without excuse. If we say that about our churches.. well there are churches on just about every street corner.
I truly believe the excuse "I'm not getting fed," is a cover up for a whole list of other issues at hand.
People don't like change. They are comfortable where they are, and they are settling for good instead of great. Heartbreaking? YES!
My problem is that I don't just wanna smack 'em. I want to be the Holy Spirit in their lives. That's not a good place to be. I'm not God (pause ... thank You Lord for that), no matter what my inner ego might think sometimes...
We as a whole) are too busy getting fed by the world's table, and it's full of junk food. The world's table is a buffet full of twinkies and chocolates, chips, and soda. Tastes great, but after 5 or 6 Chocodiles we're sick at our stomachs.
I think that there is a real hunger out there. Problem is we're full from all the junk we've eaten.
Anyways, great post as always, hope you have a blessed day!