What is the Land Between? Try this: I’m living with my parents “for now.”
More to the point, check out the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt to the left in green, and Israel to the right – also green. The land between? The desert place.
Think of the Exodus. Hundreds of thousands of people in the “brown space.” This is the Land Between.
What grows here? Anything? Oh yes, but not food. So manna was provided – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then, the next day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then, the next day, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Think about that. That might get old after a while, right?
This was fertile soil FOR COMPLAINT.
Numbers 11:4-6 (New International Version)
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
You’d think that the miracles would get them past the problems of repetition.
But we CANNOT place ourselves above these characters. Given the right set of circumstances, we’d be right there with them.
In longing for the days of Egypt, it’s as if they were saying, “We were better off in Egypt, better off without God.”
We’ve said this, but in different ways.
“I’m sick of trying to heal this broken marriage. I’m sick of falling into bed wondering where my teenager is. I’m sick of trying to heal this church split. I’m sick of …”
Try an honest prayer.
Numbers 11:11-14 (New International Version)
11 He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.
This is fertile soil not only for complaint. It’s fertile soil for meltdown. Keep reading.
Numbers 11:15 (New International Version)
15 If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
“It’s too heavy. I can’t carry this anymore.”
Whose voice do you hear in this? The couple going in for medical testing, the pastor who is struggling?
Jeff struggled with planning a building project that was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. And in that time, the church grew from 150 to 50…
“Its not you; we just feel like we need to date other churches right now.”
And when the building began, there were folks coming home.
Jeff says, “I was not prepared for years of disappointment. I wasn’t prepared for BEING a disappointment!”
I wonder how God is going to meet this guy, Moses. I hope gently, and graciously.
16 The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.
This is where Moses had his God-Endowment multiplied: Seventy mini-Moses. 🙂
Fertile ground for PROVISION
So God whacks ‘em around a little.
18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ‘ “
This borders on cosmic treason.
Moses was thinking that this was impossible. If I barbecued every goat, slaughtered every sheep, and sent out fishing expeditions for the next MONTH, I couldn’t feed these folks. God says, “Is the Lord’s Arm too short?
This is where it gets a little tougher.
FERTILE GROUND FOR DISCIPLINE
While the meat was still between their teeth, God sent a wasting plague, and folks died.
Great story for meal time lessons. “Honey, before you complain about your veggies, I’m going to read you a story. These folks complained about their food, and God killed them.”
Seriously? Let’s think very carefully about this.
Think about discipline for a minute. We respect loving parents who bring timely discipline to their children. Not the angry violence of beating a child. But the application of correction.
Discipline is inflicting pain for the sake of redemptive purposes.
We respect employers for bringing discipline into the life of a promising employee who can’t show up on time.
Why wouldn’t we respect God’s redemptive actions? When we embrace a spirit of complaint, it is fertile ground for God’s discipline.
We’re talking about TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH.
Remember, this is an unruly mob of ex-slaves, on the way to the land of promise, exposed to GENERATIONS of idol worship.
They needed this time to transform. God was saying, “When you run out of water, I need you to trust me. When you run out of food, I need you to trust me. When Pharaoh is after you, I need you to trust me.”
It is in that space that we learn to depend. It is in that space that we learn to pray. The Land Between if fertile soil for TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH.
Time does NOT heal all wounds. Some folks get bitter, angry, caustic, and toxic over time.
The Wilderness is a place for transformational growth, but it can also be a place where faith goes to die.
Why? Because complaint can resist eviction. Complaint can be overpowered by trust, and the depth of that trust determines the success or failure of pushing complaint out of the space in your life that you are trying to get back.
May God restore your laughter. May God increase your joy. May you find God to be both present and good, in the Land Between.
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