Numbers 11.4-6
“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.’ ”
It is just over a year since the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt. God has provided manna to eat and water to drink, but they miss the wonderful variety of food in Egypt. Did they really wish they were back in Egypt, to be used as forced labour? Had they forgotten what slavery was like? I remember the summers of my childhood as being warm and sunny; I have forgotten the wet days. I remember playing and enjoying childhood, but I choose not to remember the times when I fell and hurt myself, or the times when I argued with my friends. I remember some wonderful holidays, but I tend to forget the airport delays and the tummy bugs. Perhaps filtering out bad memories is a natural mechanism to protect us from a surfeit of sadness. But we do need to remember what God has saved us from, so that we always appreciate his wonderful grace.
Father, forgive us for when we forget and take our freedom for granted.
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