IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Moses’ Troubled Prayer

Date: Jan. 18, 2022

Passage

Numbers 11:1-15 (ESV)

And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 11:12

Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?

God’s way to the Promised Land was through the hard wilderness. While marching to the Promised Land, the Israelites complained about their hardships. Then fire from God burned some of them. God’s way to heaven is through trials. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Ac 14:22). God’s purpose to lead us through hardships is to remove impurity from us and conform us to Jesus’ image.

Again, they became cranky about the ‘tiresome’ manna. They wailed, reminiscing about ‘free’ food in Egypt. They might have eaten for free, but they were enslaved in Egypt. They forgot who they had been in Egypt and how God had redeemed and guided them. This time, Moses complained to God about the difficult people who kept complaining. He complained about his mission to carry his people in his arms like a nursing mother to the Promised Land. God’s purpose to put this heavy burden on Moses was to grow him in the heart of God for his people. God’s love and mercy toward his childish and grumpy people was beyond human understanding. Spiritual leaders are to carry people, like a nursing mother, with God’s heart and with God’s strength.

Prayer: Prayer: Lord, with my own strength I cannot carry even one person. Give me your heart and strength to serve your people.

One Word: One Word: As a nurse carries an infant

Daily Bread

The Proclamation of Judgment

Exodus 11:1-10

Key Verse: 11:5

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Intro Daily