The Journey with Jesus

02.22.12

Numbers 11.4-6 4 The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, 6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.” NASB

Journeying with Jesus is a risky endeavor: He might take us to places we don’t want to go, or give us things we may not want to hold. The other thing He will do is take away things that we love but that are not good for us. How we take or leave these things is up to us. But we must be careful, because the Lord never leads us to a bad place, nor does He give us bad things. Journeying with Him requires a commitment to trust Him because He will indeed lead us to places where we’ll for sure learn, but they’ll initially look more like dead-end streets.

It says “the rabble who were among them”. There are always those who won’t buy what the Lord has to offer. There are always those who will question what the Lord is doing. There is a small but powerful place inside of us that wants to go back to where we felt safe – because journeying with Jesus is sometimes fearful…it just depends on how we take it.

What’s at stake is learning how to trust the Lord when all we have is nothing but ocean in front of us, and an attacking army behind us: Lord how can we survive this!? What’s at stake is learning to accept the Lord’s provision for now and forgetting about the things we had in the past. Sometimes in my current position I have whined and pined for the good old days when all I had to do was show up for work and do what someone told me to do: simple – stress-free – brainless.

You know, we are all designed for far more than simple, stress-free, and brainless; we are God’s creation, created in Him to do great things. Sometimes however, we just don’t want to go to that level of effort. And so, in hindsight, the good old days begin to look pretty good. That kind of hindsight insults the Lord. That kind of whining and opining betrays a heart that says His way cannot be trusted. Listen: garlic, leeks, onions, melons, and fish in oppression are horrible compared to manna with the Lord. Manna with the Lord is designed to get us to trust in Him. Having our own way is just a slap in His face. They whined and moaned because they couldn’t see the adventure or trust in His leadership.

How about us? Is what we are doing now an adventure or drudgery? Is miraculous, mysterious manna beginning to look pretty pale in comparison to melons, leeks, and garlic? How do we view the adventure? Are we eager or feeling meager? Do we anticipate the conclusion of the journey with Jesus or are we just digging in our heels days after day feeling like He is dragging us to our death? How we view what is going on here and now makes a huge difference on how we’ll do with the, ‘there and then.’

I’m not sure if this is the appropriate way to end this or not, but a friend of mine used to quote someone somewhere back then, way down the line: Be careful how you pray: Sometimes God answers with a ‘yes’; sometimes it’s a ‘no’. Sometimes, it’s a ‘wait’; and sometimes it’s a, “if you insist.” The people insisted and the Lord responded…it wasn’t pretty. Let’s embrace the journey with Jesus and learn to trust Him every step of the way…amen?