Lust

This story illustrates an important lesson about what lust truly is. We generally limit the definition of lust to a sinful craving for sexual pleasure. But lust is so much more than just a sexual sin. Lust is an unnatural, unhealthy obsession with anyone or anything other than God. Lust is when we allow a desire for something other than God to become more important and urgent that our desire for God himself. We can lust after power. We can lust after money. We can lust after status. We can lust after comfort. We can lust after food.

That's what the Israelites did here. They were receiving their 'daily bread' directly from heaven in the form of manna. They began complaining that they wanted meat, spices, seasonings, and all the fine things they had 'for free' in Egypt. God, ever the gentleman, gives them what they wanted. But as is so often the case when human beings lust for something other than God, the fulfilment of that desire did not bring the result they expected. Instead, enough people died as a result of their sin that they named that place the 'Graves of Gluttony'.

Created about 3 years ago