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Fire and Birds - Numbers 11

No, I didn't say Firebird. I know that was a car by Pontiac way back when. It may still be a model. That tells you how much I keep up with new cars these days. 

In Numbers 11, a lot is going on. It starts out with fire from God burning up some complainers. I can hear a few pastors saying, "Oh, that this was how God still did business!" However, if he did, I doubt that we'd be around to rejoice in the carnage. 

Numbers 11 goes from God sending fire, to him sending quail. I've heard that quail taste like chicken! I don't know that I've ever had any. The Israelites began to complain about the nasty old manna they had to eat every stinking day. "We want MEAT and leeks and garlic! Give us a break! We're Jews. We need seasonings!" 

Side note, can you imagine the same meal every day for forty years? We know that the people were wrong. But maybe if they'd have asked nicely? IDK. 

After their crying, God called a meeting. Seventy elders were going to hear what God was about to do. There would be meat for everyone. I love the way God put it in, Numbers 11, You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"

He made sure that the elders understood precisely what he was about to do. The people would have meat, not because they deserved it, but because they would be judged by it. 

Moses' reaction is classic. It was like he was being told to believe in unicorns! 

“Excuse me, God, but, hellooooo! We're in the desert! There are no butcher shops nearby. And, even if there were... We'd need a ton, no, ten tons of meat for all of this hord!“

In verse 23, God gives us all understanding of his power when he says, "Is the Lord's arm too short?" Is there anything too hard for our God? 

You know the answer, and you know how this story turns out. God caused a wind to bring in the quail from who knows where and each person gathered 60 to 70 bushels of the birds. However, before the people could enjoy the meat, God struck them with a plague, and many died. 

God sent fire, then quail, then a plague. All very instructive and sobering. Quit your complaining! Ask God for his help in a way that shows that you rever him. He probably won't kill you if you don't. But then again, maybe he will. 

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