Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Feb 19th, 2011 The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Today’s Reading: Numbers 11-13, Acts 10-12, and Proverbs 19

Today’s Passage: Numbers 11

What Are You Lusting After?

See that car behind me? It is a 1968 Shelby Mustang convertible, complete with padded roll bar. I have loved this car since I first saw a picture of it in a Hot Rod magazine over 40 years ago. With a price tag today of $175,000; I don’t think I will get one. It is a nice car, but I could get a restored show-winning 1972 AMC Gremlin for around $7,000. I owned 2 Gremlins and 2 Mustangs. There is no real comparison. One day both will become ash as this world and everything in it will pass away in fervent heat (2Pet 3:10).

What are you lusting after?

In our passage we find the results of Israel’s lusting. They were not satisfied with what the Lord had given them. They began to complain about the manna God was feeding them with. Manna was miracle. God sent it down from heaven especially for the children of Israel. I’m sure that, coming from God, the manna had all the nutrients they needed to sustain them. But they wanted more. In verses 4-6 of Numbers chapter 11, they start lusting.

“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 garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” Numbers 11: 4-6.

They remembered the fish, but did they remember their taskmaster’s whip? They remembered the fruits and vegetables of Egypt, but did they remember the mighty hand that God used to get them out of bondage? They wanted what the world had to offer. And God, who is able to supply us with anything we need, gave the nation of Israel quail. And you know what happened next…

“And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.” (vs 33-34)

It’s the same story of lust found in James 1:13-15, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

What are you lusting after? The simple solution to lust is found in 1John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Don’t fall in love with the things of this world, you may not be able to get them. If you can get them, the results may not be what you expect as those who lusted after the quail found out. Be satisfied with what God has given you, and obey God. If you are going to lust after anything, lust after God. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, verses 24 thru 33, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Peace. (John 14:27)