The children of Israel were always tempting God to act according to their unbelief. God wanted to show Himself strong and that He was able to do all things showing that nothing was impossible with the one who believed.
A question in my mind, is: do you and I believe?
We know that the children of Israel tested God ten times to act upon their unbelief. They asked: “Can God spread a table in the desert?” Psalms 78:19
During the time in Egypt God was constantly showing Himself strong in delivering His people – a nation out of a nation that was not just an ordinary nation, but one of the world empires at the time.
During the wilderness wanderings, we see the same thing – God supplying water out of a rock, each morning manna that they could gather and eat, their clothes did not wear out neither did their shoes, they had cloud by day to give them shade from the hot sun and fire by night to keep them warm in the desert. But they tested God by craving meat and asking: “Can God spread a table in the desert?”
“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!” Numbers 11:4
Moses was getting the brunt of it all because all that he heard was wailing in their tents for meat to eat. “Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’” Numbers 11:13
So, God showing Himself strong in spite of their unbelief tells Moses that they will have meat to eat not “just for one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it — because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
One can only imagine what went through Moses’ mind when God said that He would give them meat to eat for an entire month, because like Moses said: “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” Numbers 11:21-22
But the Lord answered Moses (and us) saying “Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” Numbers 11:23
So, God once again acting not according to their unbelief, but because of His great Name brings quail in from the sea and brought them down around the camp three feet above the ground a day’s walk in either direction. However, we read that “while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.” Numbers 11:33
We are told that these things were written for our example. “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11
What “things” are being referred to here by Paul? What we see in the Old Testament with the children of Israel – can we learn from them?
For example, how many times have we tempted God to act according to our unbelief when what He needed to do was to show Himself strong to us, on our behalf?
Do we really believe when God says: “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” Psalms 34:9-10
I think of all the tremendous promises that we have in the New Testament like John 15:7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
Like someone said: “Ask What You Will (John 15:7) – The promise is ‘ask what ye will,’ plainly teaching that answered prayer is up to the child of God as to what he wants.” The only condition is to abide in Him and His Word to abide in us. Does God really mean what He says? Can we depend upon Him? Is His Word really true? We know that God says that He is not a man that He should lie, but do we really believe?
God gave the children of Israel what they wanted – meat to eat, but He sent leanness to their souls. Judgment came upon them because of their continual unbelief. We also know that they could not enter into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” Hebrews 3:18-19
They did not enter the Promised Land, but we also read that they had no rest. Why? Because of unbelief and this is the problem with many of us as well. There is no rest to our souls because we are constantly worrying over the affairs of everyday life. The antidote to it all is: “Faith, mighty faith on the promise; for it sees and looks to God alone.”