Good Morning.
I sometimes wonder who it was that first suggested to a man that whining was an attractive or effective means of communication. Perhaps you never thought about the fact that there’s a lot of whining in scripture – and God gets pretty tired of it!
Today’s reading in Numbers talks about the Israelites in the desert constantly complaining to Moses about how hard he has made their lives. They miss the meat and the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic that they used to enjoy in Egypt “for nothing!” Now all that they had was the manna that God fed them every day. Presumably the demands of freedom were less attractive than the rewards of slavery.
Like many a congregational leader since then, Moses turns to God and says: “Just kill me. Are You really going to make me put up with their whining forever? Just kill me now and get it over with! Have I been such a lousy person that You have laid this burden on me? I can’t keep doing this.” The story says that God was pretty fed up with their whining as well. But first things first.
To help Moses shoulder the burden of the whining people, God tells Moses how to organize a group of elders to help Moses deal with the problems. The Lord promised Moses: “they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.” And so the first “Session” or “Church Council” was born. Their job was to assist Moses, not be his boss. Their job was to share in the ministry of the Lord to the people so that Moses didn’t have to bear that burden by himself.
Once that was sorted out, God had something more in mind for dealing with the whining. God told Moses that if they wanted meat, He would give them meat. He would give them meat “until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
Oh my.
In the Epistle lesson, Paul remembers the frustration that God still feels with us all. According to Paul God sometimes practices tough love. He oversaturates us with the foolish things we for which we yearn in the hope that we may recognize our foolishness before we destroy ourselves. God tries to make the choices very clear to us.
All of this is done in the hope that we shall be convicted of our own foolish sin and turn back to God through the way of Jesus Christ. We pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” but we whine about wanting more and more. We prefer the rewards of slavery to the responsibilities of the freedom God has given us in the redemption of our lives by Jesus. Despite His anger and frustration, God still waits for us to return. All we need to do is turn back.
Prayer: Almighty God, forgive our foolish ways. Close Your ears to the whining of our mouths and open our hearts to the satisfaction that can be found only in You. Your gifts to us are new every morning and Your faithfulness never wavers. Lead us on the path Christ paved for us through the wilderness of sin and greed until we reach the home You have prepared for us from the first moment of creation. In His name we pray. Amen.
Today’s readings are Numbers 11:1-23; Romans 1:16-25; Matthew 17:22-27; Morning Psalm: Psalm 78:1-39; Evening Psalm: Psalm 78:40-72.
Blessings.
Pastor Jim
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