Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 11:4-6 (New International Version)

⁴ The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. ⁶ But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

Sometimes it had to be tough to be Moses. Sometimes I wonder why God didn’t just end it all for His people in a flash of light. God could have ended it all for His people by doing nothing. God was performing a daily miracle for His people. Food appeared out of no where on the desert floor each morning. In fact, God had just the right amount of food appear each day.

God gave His people manna every morning – food sufficient for the day. What a miracle!

Yet, there were some people called “the rabble with them” who tired of a miracle every morning that kept them alive for another day. What are “rabble?” There are many definitions available. One of my favorites

The lowest or coarsest class of people.

These people weren’t happy with anything. What a bunch of losers, and that is easy for me to write several thousand years later as I sit in a house with central heat and air conditioning and I type on a computer as a form of mental exercise in the morning (how much longer can I make this list of modern luxuries?).

Are we like this today? Are we like the rabble? We have the miracle of God’s grace with us every moment of every day. Do we tire of a daily miracle that is sufficient for our salvation? Why doesn’t God just leave us alone and let us perish? He wouldn’t have to do anything but do nothing. Instead, He continues to provide us with grace and about a million other things that comes with grace.