Always With Us

The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.” Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin.

When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil. At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell. 

When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved. “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the Lord. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people?  Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.” (Numbers 11:4-15)

Good and faithful leaders require patience and persistence.  They must endure hardship and criticism from those who don’t like what those leaders have to say for the common good, such as: “Get vaccinated!”  They need their personal faith to hold them up and endure the slings and arrows thrown against them by naysayers, misinformed, and even the liars.  

Moses asked God to free him of his burden by killing him at once so he would no longer face his distress.  Even so, he did not give up despite his moment of despair.  And, neither should we.  

We all face hardships and criticisms.  There are times when we cry at the entrance to our tents and are angry.  We sometimes feel God is displeased with us, and God is treating us badly.  Those are the times when we need to pray and remember that our Christ will never abandon us especially when we suffer great trials.  The Lord is always with us.  We just need to reach out our hand.

Deacon David Pierce