Well, you know, we are involved in a series of messages on the life of that great man of God, Moses, and we have completed the book of Exodus. And we are now ready to start the book of Numbers.
And I'd like to give you just a little bit of background on the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter nine, verse 15 says, From the day that the tabernacle was set up, a cloud from the Lord covered it. And whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out. And in the place where the cloud settled there, the Israelites would camp, whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for that period, the Israelites remained camped, but when it lifted, they would set out.
Numbers 10, verse 11 says, Now on the 20th day of the second month of the second year after they had come out of Egypt, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle. And so the Israelites set out from Mount Sinai, that is, after having been camped at the foot of Mount Sinai for almost a year. And so the book of Exodus takes us from the Israelites being slaves in Egypt, through their one year encampment at the foot of Mount Sinai, and then the book of Numbers picks up and covers the next 39 years. Then the book of Numbers starts with the Israelites leaving Mount Sinai, and it ends with the Israelites camped directly across the Jordan River from the city of Jericho, as Joshua plans and prepares to lead them into the Promised Land. But what's really interesting is that in the book of Numbers, there are only 13 historical events recorded from all of those 39 years.
That's it, 13 events. And that fact reminds us of two very important verses from the New Testament. Romans 15, verse four says, For everything that was written in the Old Testament was written for our learning, so that through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. And then First Corinthians 10 11 says, These things happen to the people in the Old Testament as an example, and they were written down that is in the Old Testament for our instruction that is our we who are followers of Christ today. The point is that if God only chose to record in the Bible 13 events for more than 39 years, these events obviously in the mind of God must carry with them some very important spiritual lessons for our instruction. And therefore, this is how we're going to approach these historical events. We're going to approach them with a teachable spirit, expecting God to teach us some great spiritual truths for our lives today, from each of these historical events. Now today, the first one in Numbers chapter 11, we're going to find here that the great spiritual lesson God wants to talk to us about from this event is about prayer, about what we ask God for, and how we ask God for it. And so that's going to be our subject for today. Let's look and see what happened in Numbers 11.
And then we'll move on from there. In the end of chapter 10, the Bible says, So the Israelites set out from Mount Sinai, and they traveled for three days Numbers 11, verse four. Now the rabble who were among them began to crave other food, and the Israelites began to wail and say, If only we had meat to eat, we remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt, and also the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
Oh, wow. But now we have lost our appetite, because we never see anything but this manna. Now you'll remember that God was feeding the Israelites in the desert with manna. And the Bible here in Numbers 11 goes on to tell us a little bit about this manna verse seven. Now manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like resin. The Israelites would go about and gather it and grind it in a hand meal or crush it in a mortar, verse eight says, and then the Israelites would cook it in a pot or make it into cakes.
And it tasted like something made with olive oil. And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna also came down with it. Now there's only one other description of manna anywhere in the Bible. It's also in the Old Testament, Exodus chapter 16.
Here's what the Bible tells us there. In the morning, there was a layer of dew around the camp. And when the dew evaporated, the surface of the ground was covered with thin flakes like frost. And when the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, What is it? Because they didn't know what it was. And Moses said, This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat. And so they named it manna, which in Hebrew literally means, What is it?
Seriously, really? And its taste was like wafers with honey. Now that doesn't sound all that bad, does it?
And I'll bet you it was also low calorie, low sodium, low cholesterol, and I bet it had no trans fat. And the Israelites ate manna for 40 years. They ate manna until they reached the border of the Promised Land. But here in Numbers chapter 11, they got sick of it after 15 months of eating it. And they begin to complain.
They begin to whine. They begin to say, manna, manna, manna, we are sick of manna. It's all we ever eat, manna. We want some real food, like the food we used to have back in Egypt. Well, you say, Lon, what was so bad about this manna they were eating?
Well, friends, there was nothing bad about it. And I'm sure that the women of Israel had used great imagination in fixing manna for those 15 months. I'm sure that they had come up with every creative recipe known to man. I'm sure they had had baked manna and broiled manna and fried manna and stewed manna and fricasseeed manna. I'm sure they had had sunny side up manna and scrambled manna and over easy manna. I bet they had manna omelets and manna cakes and manna pies and manna rolls and manna burgers and manna cotti.
I thought that's pretty good. But you know, anything you eat when you do nothing but eat the same thing every day, all day, I mean, it can get old. By December 1st, every one of us here is sick of turkey. Yeah.
And by January 1st, we're all sick of ham. And so you say, Well, then, Lon, what you're saying is it's very normal. It's very human what they did, right?
Yes, it is. But that didn't make it right. It was very human, but it was also very wrong. And the reason is because God had chosen manna for them to eat. And the reason that God chose it, God had some very good reasons for choosing it. It was for their good. I mean, God could have chosen for cucumbers to fall out of heaven at night with the dew if he wanted. He could have chosen leeks and onions and garlic to fall out of heaven if he wanted, but he chose manna. You said, Well, Lon, I hear you say that it was for their own good.
It was for their best. But I mean, what could possibly have been so important about eating manna that it was really worth making this kind of big deal about? Well, let's answer that question.
It's a good question. I'd like to suggest three reasons to you why God chose manna to give these Israelites to eat in the desert. God wanted them to eat manna for three reasons. Number one, God wanted them to eat manna because God wanted to use manna to motivate the Israelites to stay true to him when they got into the promised land. Look what Moses said.
Deuteronomy eight. He said, Remember, remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these past 40 years. God fed you with manna, which neither you nor your father had experienced before. He gave you this manna to eat in the desert to humble you so that in the end it might go well with you. Otherwise, Moses says, otherwise, after you get into the promised land and God gives you all the success he's going to give you. Otherwise, he says, you may say in your heart, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me and your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God and you'll fail to keep his commandments. You see, my friends, God wanted this manna to display his awesome power to the Israelites so they would learn to stand in awe of him so they would never forget or forsake him in light of the human success that he was going to give them. Number two, God wanted to use manna second of all, to teach the Israelites to make God the central focus of their life, not food, not possessions, God. Moses said, Deuteronomy 8, God fed you with manna, verse three, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In fact, your clothes didn't even wear out nor did your feet swell these 40 years.
Moses says to the Israelites, hey, you guys, you guys out there in the wilderness, you didn't eat fancy food out there and you didn't wear fancy clothes out there. And yet every need you had was satisfied. Your lives were healthy.
Your feet didn't swell. You lived wholesome lives. And the reason God let you live on manna and didn't provide new clothes for you every season was because he wanted you to understand that to live a healthy life, it has nothing to do with the food we eat and it has nothing to do with the clothes we wear and it has nothing to do with the other creature comforts that we want so much. It has to do with walking close with God.
When you walk close with God, you get a healthy life. Third and finally, God wanted to use manna to prepare the Israelites spiritually for life in the promised land. You see, God never intended Egypt to be the real home for the Israelites.
He only sent them there because he knew the conditions there were perfect for them to grow into a mighty nation. Moses says this in Deuteronomy 10, he said, your fathers went down to Egypt as 70 persons. And now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the heavens. But you see friends, the problem is that after living in Egypt for 400 years, the Israelites had become comfortable with the culture of Egypt. They had become very cozy with Egyptian food, with Egyptian values, with Egyptian religion, but all of that had to change now. God says I was willing to put up with that kind of syncretism when you lived in Egypt, I was willing to deal with that kind of compromise when you were living in Egypt, but now you're going into the promised land and I'm going to demand that you live differently if you want my blessing. Look what God says. Deuteronomy 11, Moses on behalf of God says for the land that you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you've come. It's a land of milk and honey, a land that the Lord your God cares for. And the eyes of the Lord your God are always on this land. Now watch and if you are careful when you get into this land, to love the Lord your God and to walk in his ways and to hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all the nations that are in that land.
And he will also send rain to your land in its season that you may eat and be well satisfied. The bottom line is that in order for God to bless them in the promised land, God had to break their affinity with the things of Egypt. He had to break their love affair for the things of Egypt. He had to work out of them their spiritual appetites for the things of Egypt. And one of the ways God decided to do this to purge Egypt out of their soul was to never give them the food of Egypt ever again out there in the wilderness, but to give them his food, to turn their spiritual appetites to God. The point of all this is to simply say that God had some very good reasons for feeding his people manna out there in the desert. And they were reasons for the Israelites good. And they were for the Israelites benefit and for their blessing.
As Deuteronomy 8, Moses said, he gave you manna to eat in the desert so that in the end, it might go well with you. Now, do we all see that? Do we? Hello, do we all see that?
Yes, we do. But here in Numbers chapter 11, look what's going on. The Israelites here in this chapter are sure they know what's best for them. Cucumbers and fish and all the things of Egypt, all the food of Egypt, that's what they want.
But friends, they were wrong. And so in begging God for the food of Egypt, and in weeping and whining in front of God for the food of Egypt, can you see that they were begging God for something that was in direct conflict for what the Lord knew was best for them? Do you see that? Yes. Good. And now because you see that, it's time for us to stop and ask our most important question. And you know what our most important question is? So I'm working hard up here.
You work hard. Now let's do this. Ready? Here we go.
One, two, three. Ah, yeah. You say, Lon, so what? Say, you know what? I don't even like cucumbers. What difference does any of this make to me?
This has got nothing to do with my life. Well, let's see if we can help you with that. You know, folks, it seems to me, if we're really honest, that we have to admit that as followers of Christ so often, we're just like these Israelites right here in Numbers chapter 11. You say, what do you mean by that? I mean, we do exactly what they did. We look at our circumstances, we analyze our life, we cleverly figure out exactly what we think we need, what we want, what we are sure will bring blessing and happiness to our life. And then we go to God, and we begin begging God for it. We name it and claim it in front of God. We go to God and get other people to agree in prayer with us to ask God for it. And we tell God that because we're coming to Him in faith believing, we cannot accept anything different.
We will not accept anything different, except for Him to do for us exactly what we're asking Him for. And we've heard many preachers on television, and many radio preachers tell us that this kind of praying is the highest form of praying. This kind of praying is the most spiritual form of praying. But I'm here to tell you, my friends, the truth is that you have been sold a bill of goods that you have been duped, that to the contrary, the truth is that this kind of praying is often the most foolish and the most carnal kind of praying.
And you know why? It's because, because this kind of praying assumes, assumes that you and I know what is eternally best for us. And the truth is, we don't. Listen to these verses from the Bible, Proverbs 12, 15, the way of a fool is always right in his own eyes. Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the ways thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 20, 24, how can a man understand his own way? Jeremiah 10, 23, I know, O Lord, that it is not for man to direct his own steps. And I love what Paul says, Romans 8, 26, he says, the Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses, because we do not know how to pray for ourselves as we ought. Now what the Bible is saying here is that in most of life situations, folks, you and I are not capable of discerning what is really eternally best for us. Oh, occasionally, yeah, occasionally, the Lord will let you in on what his plan is for you in some detail of life, and you'll have absolute confidence. This is exactly what the Lord wants.
That happens every once in a while. But friends, as followers of Christ, most of the time, even though we know what we want to see happen, the Bible says it is sheer folly for us to assume that what we want to see happen is automatically synonymous, automatically the same as what God knows is really best for us. Boy, have I learned this lesson in spades. Oh, my gosh, I'll tell you, I have learned in spades the dangers of asking God for things and begging God for things and naming and claiming things in front of God that I really want. This is dangerous. And I'll tell you why it's dangerous. It's dangerous, friends, because if you and I beg God long enough, and if we plead with God long enough, and if we whine before God long enough, and if we name it and claim it long enough, you know what?
God just might give us what we're asking for, and we might just regret it the rest of our life. I tell you, I got some stories I could tell you about. I asked God for things and begged God for things and whined about things and named it and claimed it, and God gave it to me. And I turned around later and said, Why did you give it to me?
This was horrible. God said, Well, because you wouldn't give up. I'm trying to teach you.
You don't know what's best for you. You know, friends, God gave the Israelites what they asked for. Numbers chapter 11 verse 31 says, Now a wind went forth from the Lord, and it brought quail in from the sea.
And they fell beside the Israelites camp to a depth of three feet for a day's walk in every direction. But look at the real end result. Psalm 106 verse 15 says, God gave them their request that is meat quail, but he sent leanness into their souls. You say, Well, what exactly does that mean? Well, friends, I don't know exactly what it means. But I know whatever it means is not good.
It's not good. And we're just like this, you know, by the same token, so often in our own wisdom, we decide what we want. And we beg God for it. And we plead God for it. And we bombard God for it.
When the truth is friends, those very things often are the things that are going to bring leanness into our soul and not fatness. Think about it now. Money and fame. They ruined King Solomon. Marrying the woman that he craved named Delilah ruined Samson. Quick success ruined King Saul going down to live in Sodom and Gomorrah where he really wanted to go was disastrous for Lot and his family.
Having abundant possessions kept the rich young ruler from coming to faith in Christ and ease and prosperity is what set King David up for the greatest sin of his life. And yet, what are the things that we asked for in prayer all the time? Well, we asked for money and fame and human success and prosperity and ease and abundant possessions.
But for all of these people we just named those things brought leanness into their soul given to them at the times that they wanted them. You know, folks, many times we have the right request, we just got the wrong time. Many times we ask God for things that eventually he's going to give us but if he gives them to us right now, they're going to destroy our life. And he knows that we don't. And so here's the spiritual principle that God wants to teach us from Numbers chapter 11.
So listen up, here's the bottom line for today. When it comes to the details of our life, that the Bible specifically speaks to you mean like what long? Well, I mean like personal purity and honesty and integrity and the fruit of the Spirit and the ability the power to forgive others who've hurt us and on and on and on these things that we know are the will of God. Friends, we ought to go to God in prayer boldly and name and claim these things till the cows come home, because we know their God's will. But when it comes to all the things in our life that the Bible doesn't specifically speak to, you say like what?
Well, like what job we choose and when we decide to change jobs and what house we're going to buy or what car we're going to purchase or who we're going to marry or where we're going to go to college or on and on and on and on. Listen, we need to come to God and make our requests known about these things for sure. But then, but then we need to have the spiritual wisdom and humility to say to God, God, I don't really know for sure if what I'm asking for is the best.
If it isn't, don't give it to me. Give me something else. And you know what God promises that if we'll let him make the choices for our life like this, he will. Proverbs three verse five and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him.
Watch. And he will direct your path. Now, sometimes God will direct our path down the pathway of glory and victory and human success. Sometimes God will direct our pathway down the pathway of milk and honey.
And that's great. And sometimes God will direct our path down the path of suffering and pain and heartache down the path of manna in order to refine us and to humble us and to prune us like he did the Israelites out in the desert so that later he can bless us. But what I want to tell you is whichever way God leads or whatever combination of the two he gives you and me, the one thing we can always be confident of is God will always lead us in the way that he knows is eternally best for us.
So that is Moses said, Deuteronomy eight in the end, things will go well with us. And so let me say in closing that Numbers Chapter 11 teaches us to approach God in prayer the exact same way the Lord Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here's what he prayed. He said, Father, all things are possible for you. If it be your will, please remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done. Here are God's principles, friends, for how to pray biblically, how to pray with power. There are four of them.
Here you go. Number one, we should first of all come to God boldly in prayer by the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews Chapter four says we're to come boldly to the throne of grace because we are covered by the precious blood of Christ. Number two, we should also come to God believing in our heart that all things are possible with God.
Isn't that how the Lord Jesus started his prayer? We need to come believing that there is no request you and I will ever make in our wildest imagination that God couldn't do without lifting his pinky. Number three, we need to come to God asking for great and mighty things that we know not Jeremiah 33 three. We need to come in and tell God what we think is best for us and tell God what we think we need and be willing to ask for things that stretch the imagination from God. But number four, when we're all done, we need to finish by saying, Lord, if it be your will, this is what I want. Lord, if what I'm asking for, if you really know that that's what's best for me, then Lord, I know you can give it to me.
And I'm going to trust you for that. But Lord, if you know what I'm asking for is not best for me. If you know what I'm asking for at the time I'm asking for it is going to bring leanness into my soul, then God, don't you give it to me.
You give me something else, even if it's radically different from what I'm asking for, you give me something else. And Lord, I will accept it. And Lord, I will embrace it in faith. And I'll embrace it with joy, Lord. If you send it, you say, Well, I've always heard so many televangelists say, and so many radio preachers say that if you take a prayer, and you put on the end of it, if it be thy will, that that is an act of unbelief, that that is an act of lack of faith.
What do you say about that? Well, I say, you know, it's possible that if you some people could use it in that way, they could use that phrase as an excuse to not believe God. But friends, when we use this phrase properly, if it be thy will, when we use this phrase biblically in our prayers, when we use it as an expression of full surrender to the will of God and full surrender to the wisdom of God and full surrender to the sovereign plan of God for our life, then actually this phrase on the end of our prayers is actually the highest level of faith there is, it shows the deepest and most mature level of faith that it is, because it says, Lord Jesus, you know more than we know, and I am the servant and you are the Lord.
And that's the way we need to keep it. Besides, it's exactly the way the Lord Jesus prayed. Now, do you ever think the Lord Jesus prayed an unspiritual prayer?
Do you? Yes or no? You ever think the Lord Jesus prayed a prayer in unbelief? Yes or no? Do you ever think the Lord Jesus prayed a prayer with lack of faith? Yes or no? Hello?
Yes or no? No, of course he didn't. Well, Jesus prayed, Lord, if it be your will, I'll tell you what, I'm going to stick with Jesus's model for prayer. You can stick with any preachers you want. I'm going to stick with Jesus's model for prayer, and I'd like to suggest to you that you'd be wise to do the same. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about one of the most powerful weapons that we have in our arsenal as followers of Christ, namely prayer. And thank you for teaching us today how to pray biblically, how to pray effectively, how to pray in a way, Lord, that frees you to send to our lives those things that will really bring fatness to our soul, not leanness. Lord, counteract today all the bad stuff we've ever been taught or heard on television or radio about how to pray in faith. And Lord, remind us that yes, we're to come boldly and yes, we're to come believingly and yes, we're to ask you for great mighty things. But we better, we better bring with all of that a humility that allows you to make the final choice. Because only you really know what's eternally best for us. And we want to acknowledge that. And so Lord Jesus changed the very way we pray, because we were here today. Lord changed the very way we approach you in prayer and what we asked for and how we asked for it, because we studied the living Word of God today. And we ask these things in Jesus name, and God's people said, Amen.
