I know I had said we would talk about 2 Peter, but I am not there. It is not where me heart is right now. I don't want to force it. I don't want my writing about it to be contrived. Right now my heart is in Numbers 11. I encourage you to read it on your own, but I will give you the run down on the part that is so speaking to me.
The meat.
Israelites are out of Egypt, complaining against God because they have no meat.
Oh we should have stayed in Egypt...
Oh why did you bring us out here to die...
Oh if we only had meat our lives would be perfect (my interpretation)...
So the Lord says fine. You want meat - you got it. So much so that it is coming out your nostrils and you will despise it! And so it was.
This passage challenges me, and I hope you, to look at yourself. I had to ask myself what have I been complaining about? What do I think I need so desperately? Money? Girlfriends? Fame? What is it? Am I dangerously close to God giving it to me in such abundance that I despise it? Many of us can testify that the very thing we thought would make our lives perfect was the very thing that brought us down and made our lives worse.
Oh that I had more dates when I was single...
Oh that I had more popularity...
Oh that we had more money...
How many stories have you read of lottery winners whose lives were ruined by the money? How many stars would desire to be able to walk into a coffee shop and not be mobbed by fans or paparazzi? How many, men and women alike, have gone through so many members of the opposite sex they connect with no one? Just one night after the other. Sure it all sounds great and fun at first. I mean who doesn't want a little more money, a little more popularity and notoriety. I know there were and are times I do. But for me, those are desires of the flesh. If you read on you will find that the people who complained the most died and they called the place Kibroth Hattaavah, or Graves of Craving. Let me tell you when I saw that ...Graves of Craving... it hit home. I really don't know if I can put into words how it impacted me and has stuck with me. Whether I crave attention or cheesecake, those cravings can lead to death if they replace the one True God I should be craving. That is a term that will stick with me. Am I setting myself up for a grave of craving? Am I digging it myself?
I also saw a fine line between beseeching and complaining. We are perfectly within our rights as children of God to ask for things, and He is perfectly within His to deny or grant. The line is crossed when we don't accept that answer and our hearts turn away, even a little bit. He has to be enough, meat or no meat. Dates or no dates. Money or no money. Fame or obscurity. The kids of Israel, they did not accept the answer. Their hearts turned from grateful children to whiny brats. I have been a whiny brat myself. I understand.
So how about you? Any thoughts? Anything you want to share that you thought would make all things better and it ended up making all things worse? Any grave of craving you fell into?
Trust me those three words will be in my mind for a while. I hope they will yours too.
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4 comments:
What grave did I dig with my relentless craving? A dug one of loneliness. I spent all my years from about age seven to age twenty (ish) craving boys. They smelled good (sometimes), looked good, they were lovely and mysterious to me. I wanted one. BAD. Only when I found my wholeness in the Lord and give up that urge - in fact I was ready to be a happy, single missionary, had even been in contact with the English Language Institute to serve in China the next summer - did I start dating Andrew. And the rest is a story for another day...
Thanks Q for sharing!
You hit the nail on the head. I have found that as it says in Psm 37:4 "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart". He knows what we want better than what we do.
I've wanted things just to see them fall by the wayside and forgetting them having them appear in my life better, bigger, larger than I expected or could think.
GOD IS SO NEAT!!!!!
Man!!! - that is good stuff - the grave of cravings - i am telling you - that really hits home HARD - when I crave something more than Him - that is a reflective question to keep coming back too
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