LEEKS AND CUCUMBERS

Last week's Sunday School lesson has set wheels spinning in my head.  We are in Numbers 11, studying the wilderness wandering after the Exodus.


My oh-so-excellent Sunday School teacher was explaining how Moses was putting in overtime as he tried to lead his flock of malcontents.

The children of Israel had chosen to employ the ever-alluring "blame others" option by moaning about how they were in a pickle and it was all Moses' fault.  They cried because life was hard for them without Egypt's cucumbers and leeks.  In that complaint, somehow they had forgotten that they DIDN'T have the sting of the whip or dawn-to-dusk brickmaking.  When their murmuring reached the ears of their intercessor Moses, it displeased him.

If I had been Moses I might have wanted to fund their desire for getting up a busload to go back to Egypt.

In the narrative, their desperate words are recorded.  They said "but who will give us meat?"...

WAIT.

In the span of time that Israel was in Egypt, they went from being a nomadic, collectively self-sufficient people...to people who looked to government to take care of them.  Some were children of slaves and perhaps had heard their parents talk of how hard life was in bondage.  Now they were thinking that life as free men wasn't so much to crow about.

They had lost their focus.  And frankly, they had lost their good sense.

Instead of being God-dazzled by all of the miracles they were honored to witness, they were circumstance-dazzled.  Instead of pursuing a thankful attitude for the manna and quail, they clamored for the abundance (the leeks and cucumbers) that they found so easy to get used to.  Now it was out with the Promised Land and in with the known commodity.  They wanted Egypt as provider.  They didn't trust God.

How long does it take for self-sufficient people to swerve into helplessness?  A generation?  Two?  I kept thinking how much that story sounded like my country.

BEYOND JOBLESSNESS
The number of people on government aid swells beyond joblessness and compromises self reliance. We can trust God that He has a good purpose for "work" in our lives.  And when men are paid not to work, something starts to disintegrate.  Lord, allow us to understand and value the work ethic in our society.

COLLECTIVE SELF-RELIANCE
America has a history of collective self-reliance as government was structured around Judeo-Christian tenants.  We help each other under God.  It was Christians who established universities and hospitals and organizations to protect the helpless.  God said it was not good for man to live alone...and then He modeled community as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Lord, help us see the foolishness of autonomous living...or living under a faux benefactor.

ACTS 17.26 BLESSING
Our country may not be the Promised Land, but it is an exceptional place to be born.  Give us a heart of gratitude for our liberty, Lord.   Our country is a gift that blesses our lives and also blesses the world.  It began as a safe place for Your kingdom to be proclaimed.  God, help us not take America for granted.

But most of all, Lord...

It is YOU who gives all good gifts.  Help us trust You as our Provider.