Sorry about that. This one is, I always say this is more of a lesson than a sermon, and this one really is more of a Bible study. We're just gonna, we're gonna look into the Bible and walk through a few things, and it's probably not gonna be quite as long, and I'm sure nobody's gonna really cry about that, so. Save your applause for when I actually do manage to not talk forever. So we'll see. I don't have any pictures of fluffy dogs or ancient hollow trees to share with you this time. We're just gonna stick with word pictures. There are some good ones in here, I will say that. If you would open your Bibles or your Bible apps to the book of Numbers chapter 11, we'll start with the word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunity to look into your word. It's an amazing gift that we have, that we actually have the word. We don't have to deal with just listening to people and traditions. For thousands of years, that was the way that people interacted with your word. We're so thankful that we have the whole thing. I just pray that you'd take us, help us to take it seriously, and to be grateful for the gift, and I pray that you'd just work through it in this time, work through me, help me to share the things that you'd have for me to say, and to be silent for the rest, and guide us through this. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, numbers 11, I assume you have that open in your Bible apps, or if you had advanced knowledge of where you were and you just typed the whole thing out, I understand that too. So this is, as I said, this is like a Bible study more than a sermon. I'm not a pastor, I'm not the son of a pastor. I don't have any ordination or Bible training in that way. I did go to Bible college for a little bit, I am going to just use mostly God's words here rather than my words, so we're just going to kind of plow through the chapter and just look at some things that are in there. And I'll just point out some notes as we go by. Reading then, verse 1 down through verse 3, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it. And his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Tibera, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. And by the way, with Bible names, the trick, and I've said this to many people, is to say it quickly and with confidence. And if you get it wrong, nobody knows. So understand that. When I say a Bible name, that's how I think it should be said, or maybe that's how I heard it said. But I would say it quickly and with confidence, and we all move on. And we pretend for a moment that that's the right way to say it. So Tibera might be the name of that place, might be entirely different. When we get to heaven, we'll know. There's a pattern that runs through the flight of the Israelites, the flight of the Israelites, get the people we're talking about right here, from Pharaoh and the Egyptians until they finally reach Canaan. God blesses the people. One, they do well for a while. They forget. They sin against God and his anger is aroused. Then they cry for mercy, Moses prays, God forgives, and there's restoration and fellowship, and the cycle begins again. And they really do cycle this. They don't learn, they go around and around. We're gonna dive into one of those cycles tonight. Verses four through six, and the mixed 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 garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There's nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. Here's an important clue. The people already had manna. It says besides this manna, they had manna. If we recall from Exodus, the manna itself was a miracle from God. Food rained down from heaven in the wild lands, in the desert. It came every day, and it didn't spoil until the next day, so you could take as much as you needed, but you didn't have to worry about keeping it in the fridge that you didn't have in the desert. Because tomorrow, you'd go out and get more. Except on the Sabbath day, when you couldn't go out to work, Jewish law, remember, couldn't go out to work, and Friday before the Sabbath, a double helping fell from heaven, and it lasted twice as long. Talk about a specific miracle. The law that Moses had just received on Mount Sinai said you couldn't work on the Sabbath. And the heavenly manna dispensing machine made sure that the people didn't have to break the law and they didn't have to go hungry. What a God, what a miracle. Some time has passed since the complaining session in Exodus 16, when they got the manna, so we shouldn't get these different events mixed up. That was then. I said there was a cycle of complaining and forgiveness. We see this here. In Exodus 16, the people complained about having no food. And God opened the manna faucet, and there was manna. That would stay for 40 years until they eventually reached Canaan. There was always manna. Every day, except on Saturday the Sabbath, double helping on Friday, every time, every day. It was a miracle. This, however, this event in this chapter is several months at least, possibly a year, since they first started seeing the manna. What is it, manna? That literally means, the word means, what is it? Notice that the people were also complaining about the food in Egypt. The spices, all the wonderful things that they had there. They seem to have forgotten the slavery, the beatings, the people dying in Egypt. They're not complaining about that part. But anyway, manna, verses seven through nine, tell us what is it. It says, manna was this coriander seed and the color thereof as the color of delium. And the people went about and gathered it and grounded in mills or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes of it. and the taste was as the taste of fresh oil. And the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Dew, whoa. The dew on the ground, manna on top. So manna is light tan colored or whitish seeds that resemble coriander and it tastes like oil or full fat cream and they would make flour from it and bake it into cakes. Flour, cakes, tastes like oil. To me, that sounds like a biscuit or a scone. They had just received the Jewish kosher laws at Mount Sinai, though, so there won't be any sausage gravy with your biscuit. If we're being perfectly honest, that's a problem. Obviously, it was a problem. When I'm having free food in the desert, I need some gravy with my biscuit. Apparently. Verses 10 through 13, let's move on. And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, give us flesh that we may eat. See, we're sophisticated people here. We will not tolerate a plain biscuit. We need something with that. Now think with me. The Israelites left Egypt under their own power. They hurried out, to be sure, but they did manage to bring along their animals for the sacrifices, remember, and somehow they managed to have time and go and borrow gold and silver jewelry from their Egyptian neighbors, that's in Exodus, look it up, who were only too glad to lend it to them just to have those terrible plague-producing people and their firstborn child-killing god out of there. If they had spices and herbs at home, I think those would have come along for the ride. But remember the timing, it's been a year now at least. And for most people, those extra supplies have begun to run out. Or maybe they've been gone for a while and people are now, they're just getting by. Biscuit, that's all. Free food, miraculous free food. Don't have to work for the food, but it's just a biscuit, so we're gonna complain. That's the attitude here. The attitude, if you will, is different when you're packing up the station wagon about to embark on the great American cross-country summer vacation. Compared to when the car ride has gone on for 17 hours already, with innumerable stops for various reasons, and the air conditioning has gone on the fritz, and the kids are hot and cranky, and the wife doesn't care how far we are, nor where we made reservations that we need to keep if we can just keep going. There needs to be a hotel, and it needs to be now, or an hour ago, preferably. With that mindset, let's continue with Moses and his conversation with God. Verse 14 through 17, I am not able to bear all this people alone because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand. If I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. And the Lord said unto Moses, gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle, the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there, and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them. and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. Moses is at his wit's end. Reading this story, you'd be pardoned for thinking he lives there at his wit's end and just travels back to normal territory for a break. But that's a matter of perspective. We have weeks upon weeks of journeying, dealing with the people, seeking the Lord for answers, watching the Lord work miracles every single day, week in and week out, miracles upon miracles, the power of God and the presence of God on tap, in action, before your eyes constantly. What is recorded in scripture Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the writings of Moses, are just a few of the low points and a few of the high points. When you get to heaven, hunt down Moses and ask for the whole story. It had to be amazing, beyond amazing, untellable. Moses could have had a whole Bible worth of miraculous stories written down if he had had the time and if God had wanted us to know every detail. And now Moses is at his limit, or at least he thinks so. He tries to play Russian roulette with all six chambers loaded. This is the man who saw God strike thousands dead in one night in Egypt, the firstborn. This is the man who God saw drown thousands more in the Red Sea. This is the man who God saw punish, who saw God punish the faithless Israelites when he was up on Mount Sinai and the people got bored or frightened or whatever. So they asked his kid brother Aaron to make them a golden calf to worship. Notice how Aaron managed to escape that little situation with his skin intact. People got punished, Aaron did not. And that wouldn't be the last time. In the very next chapter, we have a story of Aaron and Miriam, the sister, criticizing Moses. Aaron escapes punishment again, but Miriam does not, and Moses has to pray for her to be healed. Oh, by the way, yes, Moses is in the next chapter, so, spoiler alert, Moses lives. Moses says, in effect, to God, if you love me, let me go, because I can't handle this, just kill me already and have done with it. Remember Job's wife, Mrs. Curse God and Die? Moses is in the same place emotionally. But God isn't through with Moses. God knows that Moses is neither as worn out nor as incapable as he feels he is. I like to think God is saying, in effect, I've been waiting for you to ask about that. Remember back before the whole incident with Pharaoh and the plagues, when Moses first met God in the desert, the burning bush incident, and he complained that he couldn't talk to people? And God fixed it. Moses said, Pharaoh and his magicians and even the Israelites won't listen to him. And God fixed it. Moses seems to have forgotten that he had the phone number of the ultimate repairman. I don't care what's broken. I don't even have to know that it's broken. God is ready and able to fix it. God gives Moses help in the form of helpers. 70 men who will share in the job of the spiritual leadership. That's the first part of the solution. Reading on verses 18 through 20, we'll see the next part. And say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh. For ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Again, well, slavery, beatings, people being killed, that's well. All they remember is the food. Therefore, the Lord will give you flesh and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither 10 days nor 20 days, but even a whole month until it come out at your nostrils and be loathsome unto you because that you have despised the Lord which is among you and you have wept before him saying, why came we forth out of Egypt? And second half of the solution, food, meat, loads of it. The God who sent the manna is now promising to send meat. This is the second part of the solution, but look at Moses. Moses, still calculating, smart guy, still working in Moses' own strength. Verses 21 through 23, and Moses said, the people among whom I am are 600,000 footmen, So do the math, 600,000 people who can go to war at the beginning of numbers, they number them by tribes, add them all up, they get to 3,550, if you like the numbers, and I do like numbers. But so think of that as either family men or young men without families or young men in families who are over the age of 20. So in addition to that, there's going to be young children, there's going to be old men, there's going to be old women, there's going to be women of any age who were not in the military. You had a lot of people, probably a million to two million people we might be talking about. Moses just quotes the size of the army, to be clear, 600,000 foot men. going along, and thou hast said, I will give them flesh that they may eat for a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand wax short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. I love this bit. I need it to remind me every time I want to complain about my situation, which if we're being honest, and that's a good idea, is approximately all the time. My wife will confirm this. She's back there. You can ask her. And I should mention this. I like to say at the beginning, but I forgot. Sometimes people say, who are you preaching to? Who are you thinking of this? In my lessons, there's always one answer. I'm preaching to myself, and you guys are along for the ride. I am the complainer in this story, and this is to me, and I think we can all benefit, but I very much feel the notion in this story of you are complaining, and how do we deal? With that in mind, remember, God is the ultimate repairman. Nobody can fix things like God can. We just need to stand aside and watch him work. Verses 24 through 29, that's gonna happen. And Moses went out and told the people of the words of the Lord and gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the 70 elders. And it came to pass, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. And they were of them that were written, but went not out into the tabernacle. Tongue twister for you. And they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord, Moses forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon all of them. This is just a sidebar that's not the main focus. It could be the focus of a whole different message for somebody to get into, but I just wanted to focus on the complainers and the complainings. I'll just observe here, God works how he wants to work. Joshua saw a situation somebody complained about a situation two of these guys were prophesying in a way that the other 70 weren't The people got you know all concerned or at least some of the people the people who were in charge got all concerned and Moses just said I have help finally. I have lots of help. Let's not complain about the help. We're gonna be thankful there is help and Moses had the right attitude about that situation. God is going to work how he is going to work. And sometimes it's gonna be a surprise to us. Sometimes it's gonna be flatly shocking. God has shocked me plenty of times in the way that things have changed in my life, either in front of me or sometimes right underneath me. God does what he wishes and we deal. So moving on from that, I just say, when our perception, you know, these guys are prophesying, what's going on? When our perception or our opinion of God's work goes contrary to that, what we need to fix is our perception or our opinion. God is sovereign, his way is right, That means the safest place for us to be is not in the way of God working. Don't hinder the solution when you ask for the solution. Now back to the food. Verses 30 through 35. And Moses got him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel, and there went forth a wind from the Lord. Here's the meat that was promised. And brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp as it were a day's journey on this side and as it were a day's journey on the other side round about the camp. So how far can you walk in a day? How far can you run in a day? If you're hungry and there's food in front of you, how far can you move? All of that, get this, round about the camp, and as it were, two cubits high. Well, up to there, all the way. For a mile, I don't know, two miles, 10 miles, how far can you get in a day? That's a lot of food for a million people even. Two cubits high on the face of the earth, and the people stood up all that day and all that night and all the next day, and they gathered the quails. He that gathered least gathered 10 homers. That's some kind of a bucket. There's a whole set of units of weights and measures. They don't correspond to things that we really comprehend, but trust me, that was a big amount of meat. And they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, that the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. I warned you about Bible names. And he called the place of that name Kebrothateva, because they buried the people that lusted, and the people journeyed from Kebrothateva unto Hazeroth, and abode at Hazeroth. You say the names quickly, act confident, and we move on. So much to unpack here, and we're done, but I want to extract one little thought of really great importance. God promised there would be food other than manna. It happened. Meat was back on the menu. Everyone got meat, loads and loads of it. They also got sick. Maybe the trick was that the meat itself was bad. I don't think so. Food poisoning doesn't happen that quickly that you get sick while you're eating the food. But like the manna, like the wind that brought the quail by the bucket load, and I literally mean buckets, This punishment was also divine in origin and miraculous in nature. Be careful demanding that God would bless you in a specific way. We can pray specifically, but be careful of complaining and demanding that God answer a specific way. Sometimes he will. Psalm 106 verses 12 through 15 describes a cycle that I mentioned earlier, and it ends with a cautionary note. Then believed they his words, they sang his praise. They soon forgot his works. Remember that cycle? They waited not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. Here's the caution. He gave them their request. Get that. God answered their request. I try to remember this verse when I'm praying for something, and I say, God, you're not giving me what I want. I want this, and I want this this way, and I want it now. I know the solution, and I just need you to give it to me. Verse 15, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness unto their soul. Leanness is the opposite. Fatness in the Bible is regarded as being weighed down with good things, and leanness, this is not being in good shape, this is being in lack, sent leanness into their soul. I want to remember to give God the option to bless me according to his will, not whine and moan for something specific that I absolutely have to have, but that he knows will turn out very badly for me. Now, I would say, as a reminder, we are Christians, we are under the blood, we are not coming under punishment for our sin. It is not that we will be punished for asking something, for doing something, for whatever. We are not under the punishment of our sin. Christ took the punishment for our sins on the cross. But the Bible does say there is chastisement where God corrects the Christian. if we go afoul of his will, we expect to receive chastisement. That's not punishment, but God is correcting us to bring us back in line, and therein, I think we see the case when I'm so wrapped up in my own lust that I want something specific, and God says, maybe the solution for this is that I will give it to you, And you're going to realize how unhappy you are in this situation when you could have trusted me and gone with what I wanted. All this is a matter of Christian growth. And as I said, there's one finger pointing at you and three back at me. I'm preaching to a mirror very much here. It's a lesson for all of us. It's a lesson for me. We don't want to complain. We don't want to displease the Lord. We want to follow his will and trust him. And like Moses, realize, I can't do it. I can't see how God could do it. But that doesn't mean God can't do it. He can. We just have to trust him. Let's go to the Lord in a prayer. And Mike, you can take over. Dear Lord, thank you for the thoughts that you've given us tonight. Thank you for the opportunity to get in your word. Thank you for the example of Moses. And I just pray that you'd help us to trust you in all we do. Amen.