Graves of Craving

I am a picky eater. A very picky eater. There have been many times in my life where wonderful food was placed in front of me, by no work of my own hands or any effort on my part, and yet I rejected it and complained about it. Though this makes me sound snobbish, selfish, ungrateful, and rude, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. The account we have in Numbers 11 is a similar one, though on a grander scale with much more at stake.

Israel has been rescued from slavery and delivered by God. He took care of them, providing manna (bread from heaven) for everyone. Exodus 16:17-18 tells us that everyone received exactly what they needed, no more and no less. Yet they began to complain. Even though the manna was sweet and delicious and tasted like “a pastry cooked with the finest oil”, they were not content. They craved meat and complained about what they had been given. Their leader Moses was burdened so much by their complaints and discontent that he cries out, “I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now.” God heard the cry of his faithful leader and lightened his spiritual burden of caring for such a great number of discontent people.

However, God did not respond so gently to the complainers. They recalled the “Free fish [they] ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.” Free? They were enslaved! They worked from sunup till sundown, being beaten and whipped and punished as slaves. No food they enjoyed in slavery was truly free. Now, ironically, after being delivered by God and rescued from that slavery, and given truly free food, exactly how much they needed, they still complained. We do this too often today – God has rescued us from the slavery of sin has given us exactly what we need, and yet as free people we crave the earthly pleasures that we had in slavery. And how will it turn out for us?

God responds by giving the complaining people exactly what they want, meat and lots of it. He stirs up a wind that brings countless quail to the feet of the people. In fact, there was so much, the people had to walk for an entire day just to find land that wasn’t filled with meat. The sinful, complaining, discontent people got exactly what they wanted. But, “While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.” They even named the place “Graves of Craving” because of the disease and death that came from the meat they had so greatly desired. Sometimes God gives sinfully discontent people with twisted notions of what they need versus what they want, exactly what they want, and the end result is plague and death.

Be careful that you do not become sinfully discontent, craving the false freedom and false pleasure of slavery, for God may just give you exactly what you want.

Netflix and Hebrews 6

Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love Netflix? It is one of the few (sarcasm) websites that allows us to appease our addiction to media, pop culture, and anything that plays on television. Netflix offers tens of thousands of movies and TV shows to its almost 30 million subscribers who have spent an estimated 2 billion hours of video streaming. That's a lot of time and a lot of users. What can Christians learn from Netflix?

As I shared briefly in my last post, I think Netflix helps us understand this very difficult passage in Hebrews 6 concerning people who have tasted the Gospel and then fallen away.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. – Hebrews 6:4-6

First it must be noted that the word “Impossible” should not be too highly scrutinized, God can and does do anything he wants to. The author is merely making the point that it is extremely rare and very unlikely that a person would taste the Gospel, reject it, and then return to accept it. It happens often that a person will “taste the Gospel” or in other words - taste the heavenly gift, share in the Holy Spirit, taste the goodness of God’s word and power, and still reject it. People can cognitively understand as well as have their eyes opened to the true meaning of the Gospel and then choose to deny, reject, and have nothing to do with it. And just like any food you try, if you have tasted and hate it, it is very unlikely that you are going to want to eat it again.

I signed up for a free month subscription with Netflix almost a year ago. I got to enjoy all the benefits that a paying subscriber would, except for free. In a manner of speaking, I tasted the goodness of Netflix. But then, at the end of my free month, I had to make a choice. I had to decide if being a full-time member of the Netflix community was worth the cost. I enjoyed all the benefits for free, with a low level of commitment, and now I had to decide if I liked what I tasted enough to pay for it. Netflix was more than willing to let me taste their membership (in fact they had so much faith I would love it, they offered me 3 more free trials). But after a time, they told me, “We are so glad you tried us out, but if you really want to be a part of this, it is going to cost you.” If I’m willing to pay the price, I can enjoy all the benefits of being a member of the Netflix kingdom. I had to measure it, count the cost, and decide if it was worth it to me. And if I decide that it isn’t worth the cost, it is very unlikely that I will change my mind in the future.

It is nearly impossible for someone to truly taste the Gospel and count the cost, decide it isn’t worth it, and then change their mind. Jesus himself tells us to count the cost before following him. It is a price that many people are not willing to pay. In one of the most profound paradoxes of all time, God offers his love, his goodness, and his Spirit freely to all, but we must be willing to pay the price.