Be Careful What You Ask For (An article by Christian Henry)

JUNE 22, 2023

 “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” (Numbers 11:4-6)

The people of Israel are getting restless in the wilderness. They’re complaining and saying, “There’s not enough food here. What are we supposed to do?” Later in the chapter, they grumble, “Why don’t we just return to Egypt? It was so much better for us there. We had plenty of food there.” When I first read this, I was shocked by their whining. They do remember they were slaves in Egypt, right?

God freed them. He parted the Red Sea for them, allowing them to walk across on dry land and drown their pursuers. It was Him that sent the plagues to Egypt. And the list goes on; over and over, God is with them and provides for them. Yet, they turn their backs and bad mouth Him at the earliest inconvenience.

Who are these people that they think they can get away with this? If many of us were God here, and we had given these people so much, and they were complaining about such small things, we would so quickly rain hellfire upon them. It’s a good thing that’s not how God is.

This reminds me of a story told by one of my friends. When he was a kid, he had some friends over to his house. As a special treat, he used money he had been saving to buy the stuff to make s’mores for everyone. One of them, a nine-year-old cousin just took it and crushed it, probably hoping to get a big laugh. Then, of course, later that night he was crying because, while the others were eating their s’mores, he didn’t have any.

I was reminded of this because it’s like God had bought s’mores ingredients for all the Israelites. Instead of thanking Him for everything He’d done and simply eating their s’mores, they crush it and then had the gall to say, “Well, if You’re not going to feed us, why don’t we just leave.” They say this despite the Manna and so many other things He had provided for them.

God’s response to this comes in Verse 31, where He rains quails a day’s journey either way around the camp. The story begins with the people being selfish and unappreciative, and instead of smiting them like many of us would have done, He provided more food than they could eat, showing His incredible patience and longsuffering. He endures hate from His enemies, putting up with so much evil, and the root of that longsuffering is His willingness to give them what they desired.

Upon salvation, we are granted the gift of eternal life, being fully justified in Christ. We did nothing to earn this salvation; quite frankly, we don’t deserve it, much like the Israelites here. Just as they grumbled against God, we often do the same, even being openly antagonistic towards Him. We are often unappreciative of what God has provided for us, much like the people here. As is written in the book of Romans, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…” (Rom 5:10). We were fully reconciled to God through the death of Christ, even though we were His enemies. We blasphemed, denied, disobeyed, and yet He sent His Son to die in our place.

I would have you notice something else here. Though the Israelites got exactly what they asked for, it did not turn out to be the blessing they were wishing for. They cried out for meat because they despised God’s gracious daily provisions. How happy they were when God sent them quail in such abundance – enough for each family to have a ten donkey-load supply. As they flew upon the abundant supply intending to lay in store much provision, the Lord’s anger was kindled, and before they could consume the first meal, God’s wrath fell upon them in the form of a great plague.

We learn from this story how dangerous it is to prefer what our flesh craves to heaven’s gracious day-by-day provision. We also learn that while complaining against God’s providence, you best be careful what you ask for – the Lord just might give it to you.