What would you do if you were put in their situation? Be honest, would you thank God for bugs? Most of us are like the children of Israel. Look at Numbers 11 . After they crossed the Red Sea, they complained about being thirsty and hungry. So the Lord miraculously fed them manna every day. But after a year they were sick and tired of it. They said, We've lost our appetite;

Numbers 11:6

"there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes."

What does God think about that? Numbers 11:1 and 10 begin

Numbers 11:1,10

"And when the people complained it displeased the Lord: ... the Lord heard it and His anger was kindled ... the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly"

Moses comes to God and says, "God, why have You given me the burden of taking care of all these complaining people? Where am I to get meat for them? In verse 15 he even says

Numbers 11:15

"If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now"

In this section I want you to notice two things. First, the people were complaining to Moses (v. 2) for not having any meat to eat. But ultimately they were complaining to God. In fact in Exodus 16:8 Moses tells them,

Exodus 16:8

"Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord."

From this I want you to remember this: all murmuring, all complaining is ultimately and really against God.

Second, do you know why they're complaining? Because they stopped believing that God is a great and good God (Psalms 106:24-25) .There's a short prayer that many families teach their children to pray before eating. It goes like this: "God is great. God is good. Now we thank Him for our food. Amen." And if we really believe that God is good and great, we will be thankful and not complain.

1. GOD IS GOOD
Here the children of Israel are in the middle of the desert. Every morning God delivered right to their door. All they have to do is go out, get it and bring it in. They don't have to work for it, pay for it or plant it. They just have to get it and bring it home. And this doesn't just happen once. It happens every day. What more could you want in the middle of the desert?

We may look at them and say, "O, those Israelites complained so much," but don't we do the same thing? If our cook only gave us plain rice with no side dishes (panchon) every meal wouldn't we complain? If the weather is too hot we complain. If it's too cold we complain. If people are going too slow we complain. If they're going too fast we complain.

Do you know that all the good things that you ever received, saw, felt, heard, tasted or smelled came from the living God (James 1:17)? Because God is completely, absolutely good, He's never done one thing to you that is not good. God also cannot change. And so He has never been more or less good to you than He is right now. God is being as good to you this minute as when He died that you might have life. And God was good to the children of Israel. He delivered them from slavery, protected them from Pharaoh's army, and fed them manna in the desert. And they're complaining saying, "We want meat!"

2. GOD IS GREAT
Then Moses went to God and God said, "You want meat I'll give you meat. I'll give you so much meat that it will be coming out your noses and will make you sick" (11:20). Then in verse 21,

Numbers 11:21

"Moses said, 'The people whom I am among are 600,000 men on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month. Will flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all of the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?"

You see, Moses and the children of Israel are questioning God. You see, they had stopped believing that God is great. They had forgotten that this is the all-powerful, all-knowing God who created everything that is. The God who is in control of everything.

Look at verse 23

Numbers 11:23

"And the Lord said to Moses, "Has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you will see whether what I say will happen to you or not."

And in verse 31 we see what happens. The Lord sent a wind and brought quail from the sea. And there was so much quail that it was two cubits (over one meter, almost three feet) high for as far as you could walk for a day in any direction.

But in verse 33,

Numbers 11:33

"while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague."

This whole story from Israel's history shows us how much God hates complaining. And when you and I murmur and complain He hates it just as much. In Philippians 2:14 He says, "Do all things without murmuring and disputing."

If we are not to complain what are we supposed to do? How do we become the kind of people that like Corrie TenBoom can thank God for fleas? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give thanks." The exact opposite of complaining is to be thankful.

Matthew Henry, the great Biblical scholar, one night was walking home and he was mugged, beat to a pulp, his wallet stolen. That night in his journal, Matthew Henry wrote these words: "Lord, I thank you. I thank you that I have never been robbed before. Lord, secondly I thank you that they took my wallet, but not by life. Thirdly Lord, I thank you that I was the one who was robbed, not the one doing the robbing." IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS.

by Steve Nicholes
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