A large part of the early books of Scripture describe the journey of the Children of Israel moving from slavery in Egypt to their new home, known as the Promised Land. As I read through this story I am fascinated and often surprised by the different issues that pop up on their journey. At some point I should write a post that describes how clearly I see it correlate with the ‘Covid’ wilderness years that we have walked but for today I want to focus on Moses’ response to one of the issues that popped up during their time in the wilderness.

To cut a long story short, the people have started to grumble because of the food situation, the wilderness wasn’t a great natural food source. They have been eating Manna that has been provided by God but they begin to crave other food. Their craving becomes so acute that they begin to think about Egypt and the different vegetables and fish they used to eat. This isn’t just a ”oh wouldn’t that be nice” kind of reminiscing we can all give in to, we are told that they are wailing about that food, which makes the Lord very angry. I can understand His anger. After lifting them out of slavery and bringing them into freedom, their greatest desire in this moment is to go back to slavery so they can have an onion! (Yes, that is one of the foods they mentioned)

Moses response to all of this is amazing to me. This is what he says to the Lord.

He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me —if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.” Numbers 11:11-15

Moses has seen God send plagues on Egypt, He has seen God descend like thunder and lightening. He has seen the power and the might of this incredible God. He knows how big God is. You would think that knowing all of this would cause him to respond to God with perhaps a more polite tone.

Not Moses.

He clearly respects God, he’s not irreverent, or else he would have died, but he is pretty bold in his response to God. I don’t know why he chose this response and not another but what it highlights to me is the depth of the relationship that Moses has with God. This is not a conversation an underling has with their angry boss. This sounds like two friends talking, granted, one is lesser than the other. I just love that God grants Moses this kind of relationship. In fact later in the Old Testament we hear how God reserved this kind of relationship for Moses – they talked like friends.

We live in a day where God doesn’t just reserve that relationship for one, He offers it to all.

I wonder how often we talk to God as a friend? How often do we allow Him the access to our souls in a way that allows Him to see it all and hear it all? Let’s face it, He knows it anyway! Maybe a relationship like that makes us nervous because we don’t want to overstep and become too familiar, cheeky, or irreverent? I get that but I would just love to trust God the way Moses does.

We know God desires real relationship with us but maybe the question is do we desire a real relationship with Him? Are we prepared to do what it takes and hang out with Him in this way? Deep down do we prefer to keep Him at arms length like a boss or a parent when we are in the teenage years?

He offers us so much, love, relationship and a deep friendship. I want to make sure that I am not the one who comes up short in this area.