The People Complain
11 Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire [a]died out. 3 So the name of that place was called [b]Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
4 The rabble who were among them [c]had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us [d]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 [e]appetite is gone. There is nothing at all [f]to look at except this manna.”
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it [g]between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of [h]cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall [i]with it.
It’s amazing how short our memories can be, blessing God one moment, but as soon as life gets unpleasant, we can start to complain. Here we have the Israelites having been delivered from slavery in Egypt, carrying away spoil like a conquering army without ever fighting a battle. Yet they dare to complain against God that he wasn’t feeding them well enough. God was literally dropping food on their doorstep, and they were upset that there was no meat to eat.
We must be careful in our own lives to remember the blessings of God. Everything we have is from Him, and it is foolish to complain when we don’t have this or that. Focus on God and what you DO have, learn to be content, and manage well what He has given you, and you’ll be surprised how your outlook will change.