Day 76 This Post is Brought to you by Carnivores

Some troublemakers among them wanted better food, and soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, "We want meat! We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this   manna!" Numbers 11:4-6

Okay, so I like this story for two reasons: It's so like me and it's so like God.

God frees the Israelites from 400 years of slavery and forced labor in Egypt, and he provides them with food, manna, and water through the desert for 40 years after that. No one goes hungry. No one's malnourished. Amazing. 

But, just a year into their four decades of wandering in the desert, the Israelites start complaining about the food.... This is the part that's so like my fallen self, who tends to life from a perspective of scarcity instead of abundance. And well, frankly, I crave meat. Daily.

The Israelites want meat. They remember the free fish and veggies they had in Egypt and long for them. While wandering around in the desert is probably a lot of work everyday, you'd think that slavery was worse: In Egypt the people cried out to God for deliverance--and then in the desert they quickly forget the generations of misery they experienced as slaves.

That's pretty much the definition of ungratefulness. The thing that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck is that God calls it immediately--and is about to give them a full-body attitude check along the lines of, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it."

Even though they didn't like eating the divine equivalent of Plumpynut every day for a year, God was providing for them. We so easily forget how God has taken care of us in the past, glossing over how much our circumstances sucked  and blaming God for what we think we need today but aren't getting.

And they got what they asked for: The Israelites said, "We want meat," so God gave them meat. He sent so much quail into their camp every day for a month that by the end, they were begging him to stop. The abundance of rancid dead birds lying on the ground caused an epidemic and people got sick and died. God heard their prayer, understood the state of their ungrateful hearts, and sent the quail as a judgement, not a blessing.

How many times have I blocked out the abundance of God's provision in my life because of my ungrateful attitude. One of the things that my surgery taught me in the last month is that I need to be humble and let people help me. If I don't, I wind up resentful and stingy in my friendships, wondering, "What have you done for me lately?" It's not good for my friends, me, or our relationships. 

Am I ignoring God's daily blessings in my life? Am I grumbling and ungrateful about the situation I'm in today? The fact that God lets us take breath every day is a miracle, and he calls us to be thankful about that as people who remember his goodness and trust him to provide for our needs.

God, sometimes I get frustrated because I want things I don't get. Help me to look long and hard at my desires and what's behind them. Help me to recognize your daily, generous blessings and your faithfulness yesterday, today, and in the future. And be grateful. Finally, please help me to do that before you body-check me! Amen.