Exodus 16:6-30 God’s Zoo #5
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ July 4, 2021
Quail
God Provides What We Need In the name of Jesus, dear friends, Quail are kind of cute, aren’t they? The Gambel’s Quail that we have around here are happy little creatures we like to see scooting across the road or in our yard—their little topknot of feathers bobbing away on top of their heads as they run. The quail found in the desert where the Israelites roamed for 40 years, after their escape from Egypt and prior to their entry into the Promised Land, were not Gambel’s Quail. Found in Egyptian hieroglyphics going all the way back at least the time of Moses is the Common Quail—and they look kind of like the name implies. They are a pleasant-enough-looking bird, sort of plain though, just brown with flecks or streaks of white. Unless God provided a different kind of quail for the Israelites, it seems this was the one. If you were an Israelite back then, you were less concerned about their looks and more concerned about how they tasted…or that you had food at all. You see, they wouldn’t have had anything, if God hadn’t provided it. In our lesson today, we read about all their grumbling against God and the leaders God had given them—and this not even two months after they left Egypt. Why the complaining? Just prior to our lesson, we hear their reason: The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat around pots of meat and ate as much food as we wanted, but now you have brought us out into this wilderness to have this whole community die of hunger (v.3).” Yes, they actually said—the words came out of their mouths—that they were better off as slaves in Egypt. Not being free from slavery, led by God, witnessing miracles, heading to their own land promised to them—no, none of that was on their minds. They were hungry and wished they could trash all that good, godly stuff to go back to doing hard labor in Egypt and eating the food there. Actually, they had already grumbled against the LORD just four days out of Egypt because they couldn’t find water fit to drink. In his grace and mercy, God miraculously provided good water. And again, in his grace and mercy, God provided food for his people. Manna (a word that means “what is it”)—a miraculous food from heaven, something like bread, rained down on them every morning. They were only to gather enough for each day. In the evening, the LORD provided quail, so that they had meat.
You may have already caught on that this whole ordeal highlights sin and grace. The sin is easy to identify, isn’t it? The Israelites were ungrateful. They sinned in the way they were thinking about God and his deliverance of them. They sinned in the words they spoke against Moses and against the LORD. They sinned again when they didn’t follow the LORD’s instructions regarding the gathering of food before the Sabbath God established—a day of rest—no gathering, no food prep. It’s these sins that get our attention, but let’s think about their situation. They did eat daily when in Egypt. The Egyptians worked them hard, requiring them to build the supply cities of Pithom and Ramses, but they had food to eat and water to drink. They escaped through the parted Red Sea and began their trek through the desert toward the land God had promised to them. We know what a barren desert is like. We know how the searing hot sun feels too. We can easily picture the people—dusty from travelling, and thirsty. Water was a legitimate need, as we know! After the food they had taken from Egypt ran out, they needed food too. These are legitimate concerns, are they not? So the issue was not their need, it was their attitude toward God and the way they talked. They grumbled. They complained. They whined. They blamed! They were mad and Moses and mad at God. What should they have done? Well, couldn’t they have prayed to God to help them, to provide water, to provide food? But they didn’t. Isn’t that another big problem?! They lacked a love for the LORD; their hearts were not right. They could have just asked the LORD. Instead of a trusting prayer: “Lord, please save us,” they grumbled against God. Callous hearts and complaining mouths. As they stood there challenging and blaming Moses and the LORD for their situation, what does God do? He did not squash them as they deserved—this was merciful. Instead, he gave them water. He gave them food. He gave them meat. He gave them a day of rest. This was God’s undeserved love (his grace). The faithful God who chose them as his people, listened to them, heard their murmuring and complaining, and in spite of it, acted in love. God Provided What They Needed. He saved them from dying in the desert. He gave them life in the face of death even when they didn’t deserve it. You realize it wouldn’t be right for us to just sit here and say, “Bad Israelites!” right? Of course you do. You’re probably already thinking of yourself and your similar sins. If you weren’t, you’re going to now! We sometimes have gratitude problems too. Maybe it is even food issues, like it was for them. “Leftovers again?” You ever open the fridge or a cabinet and say, “There’s nothing to eat!” Yet you’re looking at how many different options inside that door? You just want something else. You’re not happy with what you have. Or we don’t have the money to be eating out at a restaurant, so we complain about what we do have to eat. How many meals have we had without even a thanks to God either before or after we ate it?
But it isn’t just food, is it? After all, the Israelites didn’t simply have a food problem; they had a heart problem. Like them, we too, lack gratitude. We grumble about what we don’t have and ignore the good things God has given to us. He delivered his people from slavery. Has he maybe delivered you too? From addiction, abuse, trouble with the law, an unhealthy work environment, or something else? We don’t think about that when we’re complaining about something else. We’re not putting it together that the same God who has rescued us from our troubles is the same God who can solve our current problems. We’re not thinking of God as the one to go to. Like the Israelites, we could just ask God. But how often don’t we just sit and complain instead? We gripe about our finances. We stress about our family members. We murmur about our medical woes. We whine about how tough we have it—and how good others have it. We may even complain about the church and the leaders God has given us—which is exactly what the Israelites did! How bad are we, truly? God could dump consistent quail in considerable quantities and we would find a way to complain about it. Because that’s the way our sinful nature is. God has every right to squash us too. But you know he doesn’t. He does not punish us. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He is merciful. And he is gracious—God Provides What We Need. He listens to us like he listened to his people at the time of Moses. It means that even though he hears our grumbling too, he responds with what we need. And we do have what we need, don’t we? God promises to provide what we need—not everything we want…or think we want—but what we need, the things that are best for us. Like the manna and the quail for the Israelites, God does this for us new each day. Why does he do this? Does he just disregard our grumbling? Not at all, actually. He put all that on his Son. He sent Jesus to do what we don’t do. Think about it—did Jesus grumble to his Father about things? Did he complain to him about what he didn’t have? He had virtually nothing but the clothes on his back—which were taken from him and divided among greedy soldiers. And even then, as he suffered to pay for our sins, there was no complaining, only trust. His life ended the same way it was lived! When it comes to food, look through the gospels and you’ll see many occasions where he prayed to his Father. Some of those were meal prayers, thanking his Father for food. You remember—the feeding of the 5,000, the final Passover Meal he ate with his disciples (when he instituted the Lord’s Supper), the meal he sat down to eat with the Emmaus disciples after his resurrection from death. And what about times of tremendous difficulty? He didn’t complain about the people who opposed him as the Savior and who caused him to suffer in every way, he prayed for them…right up to the end: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).”
The life of perfect gratitude and trust in God was given to pay for our lack of thankfulness, our forgetting the blessings already given because we’re focused on what we want now. Jesus didn’t sin like this. And he didn’t sin like that so that we could be forgiven for all those things. What great love God had for us that he sent his Son! What great love Jesus had for us that he lived this way and then died and rose for us. What great love the Holy Spirit had for us as he gave us faith to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation! There will come a day when we leave our wandering in this world of want and worry, a world we don’t navigate so well because of our damnable sin. But because of Christ, we have been saved from dying eternally. The LORD has rescued us and has given us life in the face of death. When we leave this world, we will most certainly go to the Promised Land of heaven. As we are with our God and Savior for eternity, we will give him perfect thanks as we are still perfectly provided for. You can see God’s mercy and grace in action in this account from Exodus. You can see God’s mercy and grace in your life as well. Be assured then that God Provides What We Need in this life as he prepares us for our life with him in heaven. Maybe we can think of that whenever we see quail scurrying across the cart path on the golf course or on our walk or as we sit in our yard. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.