THE SPICE OF LIFE
By Pastor James May
Numbers Chapter 11:4-31
Life in South Louisiana has a number of wonderful advantages. There is no place in our nation that is better known for its food. Everywhere you go there are feasts of celebration of one kind or another. Right here, in our own little town of Gonzales, we take pride in being the “Jambalaya Capitol of the World”. That’s a pretty big claim to fame for a town that most of the world doesn’t even know exists. If you consider the fact that only a very miniscule number of people even know what jambalaya is, I don’t wonder that we can claim to be the capitol of the world. Most people, outside of Louisiana, would read that claim and the first thing that would come to mind is, “where is Gonzales and what in the world is jambalaya anyway”?
Be that as it may, Louisiana is still well known for its seafood gumbo, fais-do-do’s and its Cajun style cooking with a lot of seasoning. I have often heard of travelers to our state that said that their first objective in coming to visit was to experience the nightlife down in the “Big Easy” and to get a taste of that good old Cajun cooking. I have also heard of many who moved to other states but who would always look back with a longing inside, to coming back for a visit because they missed the tastes of Louisiana cooking.
This morning I want us to look at another time, another place, and another group of people who felt those same longings to go back to the place where they had come from.
Israel had been delivered from the slave camps in Egypt and now they were on their long journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land of Canaan. They shouted for joy at being set free. Their desire for freedom from the bondage of Pharaoh had finally been fulfilled. Can you imagine the euphoria that swept through the Children of Israel as they walked out of Egypt as a free people after having suffered for nearly 400 years, with generations of their ancestors never having known what it was like to be a free nation?
Oh how they had suffered under the oppression of their rulers in Egypt! Day after day of hard labor, working under the whip of their task masters who showed no mercy, only demanding more and more of them with every passing day. Not one day had passed without Pharaoh reminding them that they belonged to him. They slaved under the hot-burning desert sun moving stones that weights many tons to build Pharaoh’s kingdom. They spent countless days stomping straw into the mud pits and then hauling the mud and straw mixture to their fellowmen who spent their entire lives making bricks just so that Pharaoh’s cities could be built and his power flaunted before the whole world.
I can remember the day when I finally came home from the army. When the wheels of that plane came off of the runway in Saigon, Vietnam, the whole plane shook from the shouts of joy that came from the lips of every soldier who had been blessed enough to make it through alive, and now we were going home. But, an even greater shout went forth when those same wheels finally touched down with a screech and puff of smoke on the runway in Oakland, California. No matter what lay ahead, it was better than being back in the war zone. Life has had its ups and downs. There have been a lot of good times and a lot of bad times, but nothing has compared to those bad times.
Now you would think that Israel would have shouted for joy all the way through the wilderness and that they would have entered into Canaan with a shout of praise and singing songs of victory, but that was not to be the way it would happen. Almost immediately they began to murmur and complain about how hard it was to travel in the wilderness. How quickly they forgot what God had done for them and the great miracles of deliverance that he had brought to them!
God had brought the plagues upon Egypt to force Pharaoh to let his people go.
God had parted the waters of the Red Sea to give them easy access to leave Egypt.
God had provided water for them when they were thirsty.
God had given them Bread from Heaven to eat every day so that none would go hungry.
God had begun to teach them his Law and given them instructions on how to build a tabernacle where His glory would come into the midst of the camp and dwell among his people.
God had chosen Israel as his own people and he would not fail to provide for their every need.
But Israel was so quick to forget and in Numbers 11:1-2 we read these words, "And 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."
How often do we see this same series of events happening in the lives of people right now!
It doesn’t take much power of discernment to notice that people who are living in sin in this world are under a hard taskmaster. Satan, like Pharaoh, has no love for those who are his slaves. The devil drives those who serve him like sheep to a slaughter. He is an unrelenting, uncaring, deceiving, lying, cheating lord over all who serve him. He shows the glitz and glamour but gives only heartache and sadness. He shows the good life, but that “good life” is nothing more than an empty shell of existence. The pleasures of sin only last for a little while and then they give way to guilt, shame and despair.
The party life might seem to be fun on the surface, but when the party is over, then the feelings of guilt roll in and life goes back to its drudgery. We work through the week, day after day, running the rat rate, trying to make a living, and the only thing that most people live for is the weekend party. Then comes Monday morning and it’s the same thing all over again.
Have you ever felt as though the devil had you in the slave pits making bricks for him so that his kingdom would grow while you only suffered more and more under his whip?
How many times have you cried out in your despair, God help me! Are you listening God? I need help! I can’t go on like this, something has to change but I don’t know how to change and I can’t seem to force myself to break free from these chains that hold me!
Some people will live for the devil a long time and finally come to the place in lift where they just can’t take being a slave so sin any more. Many of them just give up on life and commit suicide. Others try to drown their sorrows in alcohol but they soon discover that the alcohol only leads to deeper depths of despair and hopelessness. Some resort to taking drugs to go to sleep, drugs to wake up, drugs to give them energy, and then finally to drugs that will help them cope with life, only to realize that soon they are a slave to those drugs and then they are driven even deeper into the slavery of sin with a bondage that is unbreakable without God’s intervention.
Others throw morality to the wind and decide that it doesn’t matter anymore, so they take the chance that they won’t be infected with aids and other sexually transmitted diseases and decide to jump in bed with anyone, anytime and anywhere. It may all seem so great in the beginning but then they realize that sex isn’t the answer either. They suddenly discover that they are slave to their emotions, a slave to their lusts, and that those people who they thought loved them were only using them. Some find their worst fears will come true because they will be losing the battle to aids. Life’s meaning is gone and there is little to live for. Absolute despair sets in and hopelessness overwhelms them.
Several months ago my wife and I went to visit with a nephew who had contracted Aids. He had lived a promiscuous lifestyle for a while but had finally settled down and gotten married and had two beautiful baby boys. Just a few days after his second son was born, both he and his wife began to experience terrible illnesses. They were both diagnosed with having Aids. Within a few years, his wife died, never to see either of her children even start school.
As we talked with my nephew, he was almost unrecognizable. He had lost so much weight and his whole body was so ravaged with the disease that he didn’t look anything like he had only a few years before. It was very apparent that he was in the final days of life on this earth.
I tried to reach him with the gospel message. I made my best effort to reach out to him and tell him about the love of God, trying to make sure that he knew that Jesus could and would forgive him, but I don’t think that my words had any effect. I don’t know if he ever did anything about the condition of his soul because he had already sank so deeply into hopelessness.
All he would say was, “look at me, and you will see the depths of where sin can take you.” His eyes were blank, his hope was gone, his life was coming to an end and he had given up on God. Just a few weeks later he was gone and most of his family didn’t even want anything “religious” at his funeral.
Brothers and Sisters that is the place where Satan wants to drag every one of us. That is the depth of sin that Jesus came to save us from.
Thank God that he came into my life and yours. Thank God that Jesus made the way that we can be set free from the bonds of sin and the claim that Satan has upon our souls. Jesus parted the waters of your Red Sea! He delivered you by the power of His own blood from the taskmaster’s whip. You don’t have to build bricks for Satan’s kingdom anymore. Now you can work for the Lord and you will reap an even greater reward for your labor down the road, and life will take on a new meaning and a great joy.
Those of us that have been set free from the power of sin ought to be shouting for joy and you should be the happiest, most joyful, most thankful and most victorious people on earth, but that’s not always the way that God’s people behave is it?
Just like the Children of Israel we like to complain once in a while about our lot in life. No one ever promised us that there would be less trouble in life if we served the Lord. The Word of God makes little distinction between the troubles in life that will come against the Christian and the sinner.
Job understood this more than most men when he said in Job 14:1, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble."
Jesus also said these words in Matthew 5:45, "…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
The Children of Israel found out, just like you and I have come to know, that just because you are walking in the perfect will of God, living the best way you can to be what God wants you to be, doesn’t not mean that life will be perfect.
Those times of discouragement, temptation, even failure will come. The question is; how will you handle those times when they come? Will you complain and murmur? Will you doubt God’s power to bring your through and supply your needs? Will you forget where God has brought you from, or will you not forget where you came from, but forget how bad it really was in your old life? Will you do like Israel and look back to those days of sin, bondage, hopelessness and despair, and only remember the good times? Satan will blind you if you let him and you won’t remember how lonely you were, how sick you were, how hopeless you were and how life was little more than a meager existence with no real joy or lasting happiness.
Israel forgot; Israel complained; Israel murmured; even after God had done so much for them and their attitude, doubt and fear made God angry and he sent judgment upon them.
The Holy Fire of God fell on them and many were destroyed at the edge of the camp. Why only on the edge? Why didn’t the fire fall in the middle of the camp?
I believe it is because those who complained and were most unfaithful stayed on the edge. They didn’t get all the way in with everyone else. The worst complainers were staying close to the back of the camp where they could easily turn back if they wanted to.
I know that this isn’t spelled out in the scriptures but look around you. Look at those who are not committed to following Jesus and you will see them hanging around the edge of the church. They won’t get in and they are afraid to get out! They won’t be really committed to serving the Lord but they don’t want to be counted as backsliders or sinners either. They like to walk the fence between Heaven and Hell. Just like those Israelites who died by fire, you can’t walk close to the gates of Hell without getting burned. Sooner or later you will have to decide which way to go. The greatest place of protection and strength from the attacks of the devil is in the middle of the camp. Surround yourself with Jesus and the fire can’t touch you.
Now you would think that the rest of Israel would learn from the mistakes of those who died by the fire of God who stayed out in the fringe areas, but that wasn’t to be so.
How many times do we see God’s judgment fall on backslidden and disobedient Christians and yet we don’t heed the warnings? Again and again, we see others walk the same path; go down the same steps to destruction because we don’t learn by the example of others.
Our reasoning is, “well that can’t and won’t happen to me. I know how far I can go. I can come back anytime.” That’s a lie from Hell’s pit. Satan loves to make us believe that, but the truth is that we can only come back if the Spirit of the Lord is drawing us to come back. God may just allow us to wallow in our own lusts and reap the rewards of our own actions for a while as He tries to teach us a lesson.
Paul has these words concerning backslidden and backsliding Christians in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
Remember that it doesn’t have to be the sin of fornication, because in the sight of God, every sin is equal.
That means that God will allow us to enjoy our sin if we want to but we will also reap what we sow so that when our lives are wrecked, our bodies are dying from the effects of our sin, and our hope and power within ourselves is finally gone, then perhaps we will then realize that we need to turn back to God. Sadly many never turn back to God and die in that hopeless condition, never to make Heaven their home.
Israel didn’t learn anything from the fire of God falling upon them. Later in the same chapter of the Book of Numbers we see them complaining and murmuring again.
It wasn’t enough that God gave them their “daily bread”. It wasn’t enough that he quenched their thirst and performed mighty miracles for them. They were never satisfied. All they could see was what they didn’t have! They couldn’t see the blessings that they already had!
Look with me at Numbers 11:4-6, "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 garlic: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes."
There they are, the mixed multitude, those whose heart and mind are not fully set upon God and serving him. They are double-minded, looking back instead of up and ahead.
How many of you know that if you start looking around at the circumstances and the things of the world that you open the door for temptation and sin to enter in? The more you think about sin, the more you talk about sin, and the closer you get to it, the less you can resist it because your heart begins to desire those very things.
The attitude of these Israelis was that same attitude that so many have in the church today! This Christian life isn’t what we thought it would be. Walking in the wilderness of life has too many dry places, too much heat from the enemy of my body and soul, too much rejection by the rest of society and I’m tired of it! I want to enjoy more of the pleasures of this life. I feel like I’m being left out.
Israel looked back at their life of slavery and all they remembered was the good things. The smell of fried or baked fish filled their nostrils, the tastes of leeks, garlic and the luscious fruits of the land caused them salivate as they stood there thinking about it.
Suddenly the bread wasn’t enough; they wanted meat too! The bread of Heaven gave them the taste of fresh oil! It was a symbol of the daily provision of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives, but that wasn’t enough! They wanted the bread but they wanted flesh as well.
You cannot fulfill the desires of the flesh and enjoy communion with Christ at the same time. Flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Only those things that are gifts of God’s Spirit can enter there. We must not desire the things of this world.
God became angry at Israel once again. This time Moses became angry with them as well and he told God that he was tired of being responsible for a people who refused to serve the Lord. He couldn’t carry this burden alone.
I have felt like Moses at times. God, I preach, I teach, I exhort, I try to do everything I can to encourage, strengthen, and help your people, but there are times when I just feel like throwing in the towel and walking away.
Numbers 11:11-15, "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 shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 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."
Moses was exasperated. He didn’t have all the answers that the people wanted. He had done his best but his best was never good enough. Some didn’t like his teaching. Some didn’t like his leadership ability. Others didn’t like the paths that he led them in. They forgot that God had put Moses where he was and that God was the one who was leading them, not Moses.
Numbers 11:21-23, "And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat 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 waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not."
God heard Moses and He knew that Moses needed help in governing Israel so God anointed 70 elders to help him. I thank God that he has given others the burden to build this church as well as I. I couldn’t carry this burden alone.
Then God turned to Israel and gave them what they wanted. If you really want to enjoy the things of the world, God won’t stop you! He won’t overcome your free power to choose and do your own thing. He will let you have all you want until you don’t want it anymore.
Numbers 11:18-20, "And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, 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: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?"
God sent Israel the flesh they wanted. In Numbers 11:31-33, we read that God brought quails in from the sea with a wind and they were stacked up three feet deep for a mile in every direction from the camp. They were everywhere. It was as though God said, “You want it - you got it. I hope you enjoy it. But, you are going to get more than you bargained for. I’ll give you what you want. You can have your heart’s desire, but you are going to get sick of it soon enough. It’s time for a “spiritual and earthly whipping”.
Have you ever heard a parent say to their child, “quit your whining or I’ll give you something to cry about?” That’s what I sense in God’s Words as well. It was time for a trip out behind the woodshed and God had the switch in His hand.
Israel go what they wanted but they didn’t want it after they got it. They got sick and died by the hundreds. They finally became so sick of eating quail meat that they begged Moses to ask God to take the quails away. They finally came to realize that the Bread of Life, sent down from Heaven, was the best thing that they had.
For a month, they had nothing but quail meat. Some of it spoiled but they had to try to preserve it on their own and eat it later because of God’s judgment.
That proves my point that you can’t always turn back to God and stop the power of sin in your life anytime you want to. God’s judgment had to run its course in Israel because there was a hard lesson to be learned. They had to learn that what God wanted them to have, he would give to them. They had to learn that God, in his sovereignty knows what is best for them, when to feed them, what to feed them, where to lead them, and how to get them to their Promised Land and fulfill his covenant with them.
That’s what we must come to realize as well. There is nothing in this life like Jesus. There is no other answer. There is no other life worth living. Jesus knows what you need, when you need it and he also knows the best timing and the best manner in which to give you what you need. We must stop trying to figure it out and learn to live by faith and not by sight. We must learn to live according to the will of God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than to live according to the desires of the flesh.
Let’s learn from Israel and give it all to God and let Him be in control of our lives.
