I was reading in Numbers 11 the other day and in verse 4 it says: “The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ”. 

I’m reading through the Bible for my 21st time this year, and I don’t know that I’d ever stopped to think about this before, but they had meat. They left Egypt with livestock and flocks, and they sacrificed regularly from those herds. So they had beef and lamb to eat. The next verses give a little more insight: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” 

So they mention specifically fish. And it’s probably true that they weren’t getting much fish in the desert. But I was thinking about this in my prayer time afterward and of course the application for me in this story is that I can be (and AM) richly blessed and have all I need, yet still look at what I don’t have and complain about that. It isn’t that I haven’t been provided for, I just want more. I would imagine this is a very relevant message for people like me, who live in a time and place in the history of the world where we have abundance far beyond what most people would have ever expected. And yet, we will tend to still look not at whether our needs are met, but we’ll find some people that have more, and then think, well I don’t have that much so I’m not being taken care of! When I consider that for just a second, I have to admit it’s such an ungrateful attitude. God has given me (and most of us in this modern, first world economy) an abundance. And yet I can look at what I have and still feel it isn’t enough?? We are surrounded by influences that are designed to make us feel this way, in great part so that we will be emboldened to buy more. But while these influences are definitely at work around me, I don’t excuse myself for falling prey to them. Temptations are always going to be around. But I’ve also been given the Holy Spirit, and, so I’m told in James 1, wisdom when I ask for it. But ultimately, as James 1 also tells me: “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed”. It’s not just temptation… my own evil desires are just brought to the surface when faced with the temptation. 

I’ve generally considered myself a contented person. I’m not a particularly greedy guy and I am well aware that certain life-decisions I’ve made were made specifically with an aim for peace and happiness as opposed to financial gain. In other words, I chose paths knowing I’d earn less but be happier overall.  

That said, there have been other times when I should have been content and yet chose not to be. I chose to go after more than what I had been given. Effectively, I looked at the Lord and said: what you’ve provided isn’t enough! Which is exactly what the people in the Numbers 4 story did.  

Why do we do this? Outside of just blaming it on a sin nature, I don’t have an answer. It seems a part of humanity to just want more. OK…. but why do we, as believers, do the same thing? Well, of course, we are part of humanity, so it’s innately in us too… but we should also have the presence of the Holy Spirit working against the flesh. So my answer is that I was allowing the flesh to have its way rather than allowing the Spirit to guide me. I have plenty of guidance from the Bible, and, unlike perhaps generations past, it is freely and widely available to me. So I don’t have much in the way of excuse for not letting the Word guide my life.  

I wish I had a more complete answer for why in some instances, I give this place to my flesh, even when I know it won’t end well. But I think it comes down to obedience and faithfulness. When I build up small habits of obedience, those begin to form a character of faithfulness. When I stop listening to the small things the Lord tells me, then disobedience… and dissatisfaction… begin to take the lead. 

The connection then is that if disobedience leads to dissatisfaction, obedience and faithfulness lead to satisfaction.