Boiled Dinner Night

A Series on Living in the Wilderness
 (Use the link below to read the verses.)
Numbers 14:26-45

 [In this series we will be looking at people who lived in the wilderness. Not necessarily a wilderness of natural creation, but a wilderness of their own creation. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is still with us.]

  

Over the years, my wife has told the story many times, how her Mother had a set menu schedule for every dinner. In writing this blog, when asked to remember what they were, she recited all but one; impressive. However, the one she remembered first was a boiled dinner which she had every Wednesday. She hated it!

 

It had cabbage, which she hated, and the essence of ham from a ham bone; no actual meat. She claims that she could smell it cooking when she turned the corner walking home from school. I think she hated it more than she hates peas! Or possibly she just got tired of having the same food all the time; just like the Israelites.

 

Following the Exodus, the Israelites were at the brink of entering the Promised Land. First though, the Lord had Moses send twelve spies into the land; a leader from each of the tribes. Unfortunately, when they returned, like the children’s song goes, “Ten were bad and two were good”.

 

Even though the Lord had promised them a land of “milk and honey”, and that they would take possession of the land, they didn’t believe it. In fact, they rebelled and said it would be better for them if they returned to Egypt to slavery! They even began to choose a new leader to replace Moses.

 

As a result, the Lord condemned them to living in the wilderness; never to enter the Promised Land.

 

³⁴ “‘Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.’       NLT

 

Boiled dinners every Wednesday may have given my wife some idea of what it was like for the Israelites as they wandered the wilderness eating nothing but manna and quail for forty years. But can you imagine what it was like for them?

  

Despite all the hardships, they knew that in the end, they would never cross over into the Promised Land. Theirs was a life without hope; without purpose; without a future.

 

That’s not the case for us. We have a choice to make. Do we choose to live in the wilderness eating manna and quail? Or, do we choose to live life abundantly while living in the Promised Land with the Bread of Life?

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams