TODAY IN THE WORD
One of the most memorable episodes of I Love Lucy is “Job Switching,” in which Lucy and Ethel decide to prove they could handle jobs and Ricky and Fred think they can manage the cooking. They all get what they want—only things don’t go so well when Lucy’s job wrapping chocolates turns into a high-speed race to get candies off the conveyor belt. The men don’t fare much better when Ricky asked Fred if he knew anything about rice. Fred replied, “Well, I had it thrown at me on one of the darkest days of my life!” They proceed to attempt to cook several pounds of rice for dinner!

As Lucy frequently discovered, getting what you want isn’t always so great. The Israelites found this out in today’s passage, which introduces several days where we’ll examine the use of irony in Scripture.

The language used at the beginning of the story immediately alerts us to the comic elements: the people were “wailing” about their boring diet (v. 4). They romanticized their life in Egypt—conveniently no mention is made of the forced labor and slave drivers and infanticide as they wax nostalgic about cucumbers! They insisted that they were sick of manna, which the text takes care to describe as rather tasty (vv. 7-8).

Moses was exasperated by the wailing and begged God to do something. Fed up with the moaning and complaining, the Lord announced: “Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it” (v. 19)! He would give them what they wanted—and they would regret it. They would eat it until “it comes out your nostrils and you loathe it” (v. 20).

In a dramatic display, God provided quail in the middle of the desert. And as promised, they were nearly drowning in meat—the birds were piled three feet high all around the camp (v. 31). But while the people were still in the act of eating, the Lord sent a plague as punishment for their complaint. Their wailing was not just about food preferences, it was about a lack of gratitude for God’s provision and deliverance.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This text exhorts us to be careful about what we ask from God—we might get it, but it might not be best for us. How can you know whether your prayers are in line? First, ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Are you ungrateful for any of God’s provision? Are your requests motivated by envy of what someone else has? Second, delight in the Lord through Scripture and praise. As we know the Lord more deeply, our desires become conformed to His (see Ps. 37:4; 40:8).

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