Quail Quandary
Numbers 11: 23
And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.”
Okay, so who knows the end of the story? We all do, don’t we? God’s word carried the day and Moses witnessed miracle upon miracle. I wonder, though, how Moses felt or what he thought when God posed that question to him. Honestly, it makes me a little uncomfortable.
What preceded God’s question was Moses’ doubt. The Lord seems to be calling Moses on his lack of belief. I find myself feeling guilty as I read this because I feel that doubt in my own soul. How many issues have I faced, prayed over and still carried doubt in my heart?
The people of Israel were on their protracted journey to the Promised Land. They complained about the lack of water and God gave them water gushing forth from rocks. They complained about not having bread so He gave them manna from heaven daily. Then, not satisfied with the manna, they complained about not having meat. So, God promised to give them meat enough for a whole month. Moses questioned God about how He was going to feed 600,000 people with meat enough for a month. Today’s verse was God’s response.
The story is fulfilled when God sent enough quail to the Israelites that there was literally quail on all sides of the camp three feet deep. It took the Israelites two days to gather it all.
That is the way I want us all to live with God. I want us to experience His bounty. More importantly, I am sure that God wants us to live in His abundance and in the constant expectation of the miraculous. If we can learn to believe in God’s ability and willingness even against overwhelming odds, we can see these kinds of outlandish miracles in our lives too.
The thing you must know about this story, though, is that Moses shifted out of doubt into belief. When he left God’s presence he went to the people and proclaimed God’s promise. There is our key. We must believe if we are to receive. Practice today believing the Word of God. The Bible is loaded with personal messages to you. Let God fill you up as He did Moses and receive your bounty.
