Summary: Endless complaining. It starts from the very beginning and it never seems to end. Here we are in the book of Numbers, near enough to the promised land that we might expect the Israelites to have pulled themselves together, figured out how to live, or at least to have discontinued their relentless complaint. No. That's not how we work, is it? That's not how we're built. For us the grass is always greener; the whole garden is never enough, not when there's one tree smack in the middle that we aren't allowed to touch. If I just had that one tree, just one bite at the apple, then I know I'd be satisfied." Ever felt that way before? Can we be satisfied? Can anything ever be enough? After all, here we are in the Book of Numbers, decades into their desert wandering, after the dramatic escape from Egypt. And what were they running from? The endless toil of Pharaoh, the relentless striving of more bricks, even when there is no straw. There was never enough for Pharaoh. They were slaves to Pharaoh's "never enough." He always wants more - more pyramids for more grain for more security. Ever heard of anyone who's a slave to their stuff, to their bills? Do you know anybody who is a slave to security, to feeling safe? They tend to take it out on the people around them, don't they? And these Israelites were rescued from all that by a God who commanded them to rest. Rescued from all that by a God who knew that Sabbath is the only means of satisfaction. Because God made the world with nothing, and so nothing could ever really be a threat. If nothing, just a black and empty void, was plenty to make all that is, then there is enough. All around us there is enough.
