Numbers 11:4,5–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! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt…

We all have been consumed by a desire in our lives, some good, some bad.  But did you ever look back on your desires and think about what it made you overlook?  How your desires may have affected the people in your life who wanted something better for you, but you were too consumed?

In the case of this passage, the Israelites were trying to get used to the way God was shaping their identity after 400 years of slavery in Egypt.  But they came to a pivotal point in their journey with God where they got bored with God’s provisions, provoking desires in them for what they were used to.  Their past desires began to consume them so much so that they neglected God’s direction from Moses, and made priority their own desires.  It was their unbelief versus faith in God’s provision for contentment…
What makes the Christian faith difficult is adjusting to, and being content with God’s way of life for contentment, versus the way we were brought up. Which for us all generally, is what we desire naturally versus what God supplies spiritually and naturally.  We are like the Israelites in the sense that if we allow our desires to consume us, we will neglect the faith and grieve God, along with those who may be trying to lead us to faith and contentment in God…
Sadly if we do pursue our “strong cravings” over God as a lifestyle, we prove the grace and love of God is not enough to cause us to wrestle with our cravings, and “put them to death” in order to please God by faith.  Fight the temptation to allow “strong cravings” to overcome the grace to be led into faith and true contentment in Christ.
In His Love, LD