ACT II: A Gift from God You Don’t Want
(Numbers 11:16–20)
After a few verses of intermission, the curtain rises on Act II with God speaking to Moses: “Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord [think of that] , saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat’” (verse 18). God’s response came in ominous tones. To paraphrase: “Do you want meat? Do you think that’s such a big deal? You think that’s better than Me? Do you think that’s going to meet your needs? Do you think that’s going to make you happy? That’s what you’ve been begging and crying and whining and complaining about? You think that’s better than Me? Really? Then you’re going to have it!” And God gave it to them:
“Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month” (verses 18–20a).
Now if you really understand what was happening here, it should make you shudder. God was giving them something that was not really good for them. He was giving them something bad to teach them a good lesson. They thought what they were demanding was good, but it was going to ruin them. So significant was this action by God that several hundred years later it was still the talk of the Lord’s people. In Psalm 106:15, God’s action is mentioned, as well as the consequence that came after. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (NKJV). In giving them what they “had” to have, God withdrew Himself and thrust them into the wilderness.
With God, we can be satisfied and fulfilled with very little, but without Him, all that we have will always be dry and deeply disappointing. They had all the meat they could eat. They could get physically fat if they wanted. But spiritually, they were starving. I wonder what thing in your life might parallel the meat the children of Israel had to have. Something you’re coveting or craving, something you’re putting your life on hold for, something for which you’re continually begging God.
Nothing is essential but God. Things were never designed to take God’s place. When we covet something and make it essential—and then beg God to give it to us—we are asking God to replace Himself with something we consider more important. When we do this, God will often allow us to experience firsthand the consequences of substituting anything for Him. Maybe as you read this book you are hurting over the poor health of your own soul. Maybe God is bringing to mind even now something that you have substituted for Him—a relationship or a financial goal, or a specific material dream about your future for which you have been suspending your happiness. Covetousness is such a cruel enemy. It promises prosperity and brings only painful poverty of spirit. Indeed:
In time we may hate what we had to have.
Beware of begging God for nonessentials, because in time you may come to the place where you hate the very thing that you had to have.
“‘Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, . . . but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you’” (Numbers 11:18–20, italics added). No doubt about it; God was pretty ticked off at their arrogant rejection of His adequate provision and goodness. Because they thought meat could satisfy them in a way that God could not, He gave them so much meat that they choked on it.
I have had the privilege of traveling to many places in the so-called Third World. Every time that I have seen staggering poverty, I have also seen stunning joyfulness and peace in the simple things of life. I get so tired of hearing people refer to material wealth as a “blessing.” As in, “I got a raise—what a blessing.” Or, “God has really blessed me this year; my investments are performing far beyond what we anticipated.” The United States of America is the most prosperous nation in the world financially, but when will we wake up to the fact that money is not synonymous with blessing? In fact, I often wonder if it is not a curse. Maybe our financial prosperity is the “meat” that we have begged God for and now we are choking on what we had to have.
By world standards, the church of Jesus Christ in North America is incredibly wealthy in financial things but weak and malnourished in the “joy of the Lord.” (See James 1:2 for a contrast.) More than 80 percent of Bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches in North America are either in a plateau mode or in steady decline. Multiplied thousands of church leaders are laying down their Bibles in the name of evangelism and “healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14 NKJV). Where the Word of God is preached, it is far too often a cut-and-paste approach that targets “itching ears” (2 Timothy 4:3 NKJV) and fails to declare “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 NKJV) in a way that arrests the sinful condition of the hearers. Everywhere people are lamenting the spiritual poverty of the church but failing to make the connection: “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15 NKJV).
THIS CONSUMING COVETOUSNESS
I’ve seen this consuming covetousness in the careers of men and women climbing the corporate ladder. “I’ve got to be successful. Other things can wait. I have to make money. I have to be like my dad. I have to be on the top.” How heartbreaking as a pastor to sit with the same people, now in their late forties and fifties, having spent their lives coveting various components of the American dream, with God at the edge and family in the background. They’ve built their piles of gold, but looking back they realize their folly, and through tearful cries of regret they tell amazingly similar stories of shattered marriages and prodigal children. And so the psalmist declares, “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”
I’ve seen this covetousness in the single adult who had to get married. “I have to get married! I have to find that person! I have to!” Specific young women come to mind even as I write. Single adults who loved the Lord and waited many years for God to bring along “Mr. Right.” Those women made choices, without asking God.
“I have to have a husband,” a woman pleads with God. “I can’t be happy until You meet this need.” But then she goes out on her own. How sad it has been to flip the calendar forward a few pages and see that same person in my office weeping, “I made the worst mistake of my life. How could I have ever made this choice? I’m so miserable now.” How heartbreaking to see a wonderful young und. They&with so much potential reaping so soon the consequences of her compromising, covetous choice. The psalmist rightly wrote: “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”
I’ve seen this principle at work in the unhappy husband or wife consumed with their spouse’s shortcomings. I’ve seen it in parents struggling with the burden of infertility, wanting children and begging God for children to the point of demanding. Having children is a great blessing, but it is not life. Kathy and I love our three kids, but they are not all of our life. It is very scary to see people who begged and pleaded with God to give them children actually receive them. When they finally conceive and later give birth, I become so afraid for that child, being born into a home where children are more important than God. That’s a dangerous home to be born into.
God doesn’t want anything substituted for Him in our lives. Children who have to take God’s place in their parents’ lives have a hard time. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”
If your life resembles the covetousness found in these stories, be warned! Covetousness will take you to the place in life where you hate the very thing that you had to have. God says, “Do you think that’s better than Me? You go ahead and have that.” Beware of begging God for nonessentials. In time you may hate what you had to have.
Numbers 11:21–30 records another intermission where Moses deals with his own attitude. But in verse 31, we come back to the issue of the meat and the people. God brought them the meat that they were convinced they had to have
. Now watch the consequences.
ACT III: The Consequences of Covetousness
(Numbers 11:31–35)
“Now there went forth a wind from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground” (verse 31). A couple of definitions: Quail are tasty and tender little birds, sort of like a pheasant in our day in terms of the amount of meat. Two cubits are equivalent to about three feet. There is a little bit of confusion in the text at this point. It’s hard to tell from the Hebrew expression whether the birds were flying three feet above the ground or were stacked three feet deep. Either way, this wasn’t much of a hunt.
God said, “You want them? You can have them! I’m going to make it very easy for you.” They could journey a day outside camp and collect birds everywhere.
“The people spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail” (verse 32). They were going nuts! Thirty-six hours spent gathering birds three feet deep! How many birds could you get? Well, notice what it says: “He who gathered least gathered ten homers” (verse 32). That’s sixty bushels of birds. The guy who gathered the least —the vegetarian or the lazy guy—still ended up with sixty bushels! So you have to believe that some people had much more than that!
But imagine the chaos. Samuel comes home and says to his wife, “Sarah, could you come into the kitchen for a moment? There’s a little cooking for us to do.”
She looks around and says, “Twenty bushels of birds to clean and cook? You gotta be kidding!”
Then he says, “Well, not exactly, honey; the other forty bushels are out on the porch.”
Now imagine the complications in those days when there was no refrigeration of any kind. What would you do with sixty bushels of birds? Have you ever cleaned a bird? I’ve cleaned a pheasant. I’m telling you, by the time you get all the feathers off, there is not a lot there. They faced a lot of work for a little bit of meat. Sixty bushels! Imagine the smells on the second day of processing! No . . . don’t!
One of the consequences of covetousness is that it destroys the capacity to discern sufficiency. It distorts our thinking to the point where:
Enough is never enough.
When your life is a covetous life and you’re living for something else—more, better, or different; or perhaps a relationship, a possession—when desires for something are controlling you, you lose your capacity to discern sufficiency. And enough is never enough.
ABC News correspondent John Stossel once interviewed CNN and Time Warner executive Ted Turner about all his money. Turner has billions of dollars. Stossel, noting that the media mogul is near the top of Forbes magazine’s list of richest Americans, asked Turner if the magazine’s rankings motivated him to try to get richer.
“You’re on this list, you see, and you want to move up the list. You want to be number one. Nobody will ever catch Bill Gates. Warren Buffet isn’t going to catch Bill Gates.” But, Turner suggests, it’s fun thinking about how you can get higher on the list.
Stossel then asked, “Everybody wants more. . . . And that’s OK?”
“I think it’s OK,” Turner replied. “It’s your money. . . . You can do whatever you want to. You want to buy a big yacht? You can buy a big yacht.”
Earlier the interviewer asked about the presence of greed in America. Turner’s reply? “Oh, greedy, greedy, greedy. Everybody’s greedy.” 4
The last ten years of unprecedented wealth in our country have created some astonishing results. One of the features of this economic prosperity is that CEOs are taking up to six times the amount in salaries that they used to take. But although there is fabulous wealth, most leaders are not sharing the prosperity with the others who worked to bring it about. CEOs are consuming more and more for themselves, so that leaders in Fortune 1000 companies have become like athletes and people in Hollywood. These people, who have extreme giftedness and ability, expect the lion’s share of any profit to go to them. The motto seems to be: Less to others; more to me. Why? Because covetousness destroys the capacity to discern sufficiency. Enough is never enough. The more you get, the more you want.
Now I’m not saying that money or possessions equal sin. I am not saying that the most covetous person is the wealthiest person. There is no direct correlation between wealth and covetousness. The most covetous person you know may also be the one with the least. There is no direct connection between what you have and what you desire. It has everything to do with your attitude. Do I love people or do I love things? Am I looking to the future regarding people I can impact for Christ or regarding things I can acquire for myself? Am I a covetous person?
You may say, “I’m going to beat the odds.” No, you’re not! Millions have tried and failed before you. “I’m going to be the one person—money is going to make me happy.” No, it isn’t. One of the consequences of covetousness is enough is never enough.
GET READY FOR CACTUS COUNTRY
Notice what it says in verses 33 and 34: “While the meat was still between their teeth” —what a picture!— “before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague. So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.” Those who choose covetousness as their lifestyle will spetheir lifetimes in the wilderness. Life in the wilderness: a dry, dead, dusty, cheerless, grief-filled, unhappy existence. It’s not really worth going there, and it’s a real tragedy to die there.
I expect readers to put up resistance to these truths. You may well be reading this but not buying it. After all, covetousness has deep roots in our lives. Your thoughts may sound something like, Whatever . . . but I’m going to beat the odds. I’m gonna have God and ____(fill in the blank).
It’s your choice, of course. But I’m telling you, life in the wilderness is where you’re headed if you want God and . . . ; if there’s something else you have to have.
Recently I read about a pastor who decided to visit some people in his church. He just showed up at their home one day and said, “Hi, I’d like to have a little visit with you guys.” They invited him in and he sat down. The mother, of course, wanting to put her best foot forward, said to her little daughter, “Honey, please run and get the Good Book that we all love so much, and bring it here.” The little daughter ran off and came back with the book under her arm, and right there in front of the pastor she handed her Mom the Sears catalog.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
During my twenties and most of my thirties, covetousness was never a big issue. While my brothers were earning lots of money, I was content to follow God’s leading and be a pastor. Now for most pastors, ministry and money are an oxymoron—they don’t go together. It’s just not an issue, and I was content with that. But more recently, as our church has grown, my radio ministry has expanded nationally, now my second book, and speaking engagements . . . Well, we are far from wealthy, but for the first time the MacDonald family has more income than we have necessity. I have been experiencing the very things that I talked about at the end of this chapter. Covetousness was never an issue in my life until I had enough income to think about it.
Kathy and I have had to make some pretty radical choices with our giving. We chose to give over and above the tithe to the church and other ministries, so that this matter of finances could not become an issue for us. I have seen it ruin many ministers, and we are putting safeguards into place so that by God’s grace we will not fall into that same snare. Psalm 62:10b says: “If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.” I’ll say more about the choices we are making in the next chapter. Now, what about your life?
LET’S TALK SOLUTION
Time again to look inside our hearts. As we look at these soul-searching questions, we can begin to put in place some solution steps.
1. Am I a covetous
person? Ask yourself honestly before the Lord. Make that question a prayer, “God, am I a covetous person?” Here are some better ways to determine your heart’s genuine desire. Ask yourself: (a) Do I spend more time thinking about people to impact or things to accumulate? (b) As I think about the future and my happiness, am I thinking, “Boy, when we finally get that deck built out back,” or “If we could just get our family relational conflict settled,” that’s when I’m going to be really happy? (c) As I think about a happy future for myself and my family, do I imagine us with more things or more impact in the lives of people? As people grow older, many times they convert to a more people/ministry-oriented outlook, and report that they wish they had converted sooner.
2. Am I reaping the consequences of covetousness in my relationship with God? Perhaps the idea of reading God’s Word or studying God’s truth is all kind of tiresome to you. Maybe the last time you gathered with others for worship you found some solutthinking, “What are they going on about?” It’s all very tedious to you. Do you know why? Because your life is a wilderness. Do you know why? Those who choose murmuring as their lifestyle will spend their lifetimes in the wilderness, and covetousness is part of murmuring. God puts people in a wilderness existence when they want things other than Him. So if you’re reaping the consequences of covetousness in your relationship with God, the third question will help give you direction.
3. Am I willing to repent? If that word “repent” is outside your vocabulary, here are two different questions on the same concept:
(a) Am I willing to change my mind and attitude about covetousness in my life? (b) Am I willing to say, “I have been living for things and for relationships and for stuff other than God?” You need honest acknowledgment before God. Maybe you could begin praying, “God, I need to have my mind changed about this area of covetousness. It hasn’t been pleasing to You. I want to get my priorities in order. I don’t want to live in the wilderness.”
Lord, Change My Attitude: Before It's Too Late Page 8
