Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday, the camp set out for the first time in a year, and today we saw a series of

struggles with complaints, gossip, and unbelief. Be open today with grumbling. We don't know what

the grumbling in these first three verses is about, but it seems to be unwarranted because in his anger,

God sends a fire around the edges of the camp. Then they start grumbling again about food. Their

complaints here aren't related to an unmet need. God has given them manna to eat.

This is over a want. It's not desperation, it's entitlement. This is about doubting God's goodness

in their lives. He provided for them and they didn't think it was sufficient. Once again,

they look longingly back at Egypt and they don't realize that whatever God calls

you to endure with Him is better than any kind of abundance without Him.

And let's be honest, it wasn't like they had abundance in Egypt anyway. They're romanticizing

the past. In 1120, God calls their complaining a rejection of him. That really makes me want to

guard my words. Moses is stressed out by all their crying and he takes his frustration out on God,

but God isn't his problem. The people are his problem. Maybe you can relate. Anyway, Moses

intercedes for the people and God addresses the real problem.

His solution involves not only a delegation of responsibility, which Moses can do,

but also a distribution of God's spirit, which only God can do.

When God the spirit is distributed among them, they begin to prophesy.

What does this mean?

Prophecy is truth-telling. Moses says he wishes all God's people were prophets. And Paul reiterates this in the New Testament in 1st Corinthians 14. Up to this point, Moses was the only one

communicating the words of God to the people.

But here there are lots of others doing it now, too.

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