One of the reasons life is so hard for so many right now
is because it’s kind of easy to identify good things
that are missing.
Kids are missing time with their friends
if they’re not in school with them.
Adults are missing time interacting with
with friends and family.
I saw a video the other day of a husband and a wife
who had been away from each other for over six months because of the
because of the virus.
Or maybe you’re missing something related to politics,
peace of mind related to what’s going to happen.
Or we’re missing a vaccine
or missing enough time to get things done.
The Israelites in Numbers chapter 11,
they were missing meat.
That’s why they complained to the Lord.
They were missing meat.
So they cried out to him.
It’s like, “Where is the meat?
We’d love to have something besides the manna.”
So they cried out to the Lord.
And what did the Lord do for them?
[chuckles]
Something kind of funny, actually.
He answered by saying, “You want some meat?
“All right, I will give you so much meat over the next month
“that it will come pouring out of your nostrils
and you will get sick of it.”
It’s like, it’s like you ask and you doubted that I can provide?
Well, you will see that the Lord’s arm is not too short
to provide anything for people who come to him
and ask him. And so,
and so that’s what he decided to do.
He decided to provide meat,
and enough meat that eventually they did get very sick of it.
We’ll follow up on that in tomorrow’s devotion but
but for today I just want to emphasize a powerful tool
that God gives us as we go through life.
And when important things are missing,
a powerful tool that the Israelites put into practice,
somewhat reluctantly.
Crying out to God.
The power of prayer
which God invites us to do often.
“Call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver you,” he says.
“You will honor me.”
“Ask and it will be given,” Jesus says.
“Seek and you will find.”
“Knock and the door will be opened.”
Time and again, the Bible addresses us to the heart of our Father in heaven.
It says if, if we know how to give good gifts to our children when
when they ask us for good things,
and how much more will our perfect Father in heaven give us
good things when we come to him in faith?
And so he showed the Israelites that day that you ask and
and boy, God has the ability to give.
But he waited for them to say something,
just like he often waits for us to ask.
And the reason he often waits for us to ask
before giving us things that he could is
he wants to teach us to remember
what Israel apparently forgot that day
as he was explaining to them that he was going to give them
so much meat that it was going to come pouring out of their nostrils
and they were going to get sick of it.
He introduced himself again.
The title that he gave himself was significant
because he introduced himself as “the Lord who is among you.”
The one thing they weren’t missing was God.
God was among them.
The God who can make meat rain down from heaven
in an instant and so much of it
that they wouldn’t know what to do with all of it.
But God was among them
and that’s what he wanted them to see and to never forget.
But sometimes we do.
So it’s always true that God is,
he’s among you too.
That’s the promise that the angel made to Mary.
He said, “Mary, God is going to do something amazing for you.”
He’s going to answer the prayers of everyone
who has ever cried out for forgiveness,
anyone who’s ever cried out with a heart heavy with guilt.
He’s going to answer those prayers with a miracle
by putting his own son in the womb of a virgin
and you will call him “Immanuel,”
which means
“God is with us.”
God is always with us
which means that today God is with you.
And he knows that sometimes you go through life
and important things are missing,
which is why he invites you to pray to him
and call out to him.
And so do that.
Tonight before you go to bed,
talk to your Father in heaven.
Tell him what’s on your mind.
Tell him what from your perspective is missing.
Tell him why it’s important,
all of it,
and then rest well tonight, my friends,
because the Lord
the Lord is always among you too.