We humans can be such whiners.....

You know - we humans can be such whiners and complainers. Regardless of the circumstances, good or bad, we ALWAYS have this terrible tendency to complain. Instead of remembering how GOOD we have it, we will look at the negatives in our lives and then sit around and whine.

This is the way it's always been, though. Our latest Torah portion points out how the Israelites (whom YHWH had painstakingly liberated from Egypt!) angered Him with their complaints about the manna.

Numbers 11:1 And it came to be, when the people were as complainers, it was evil in the ears of יהוה. And יהוה heard it, and His displeasure burned. And the fire of יהוה burned among them, and consumed those in the outskirts of the camp. 2 And the people cried out to Mosheh, and Mosheh prayed to יהוה, and the fire died down.

3 Then he called the name of the place Taḇʽĕrah, because the fire of יהוה had burned among them. 4 And the mixed multitude who were in their midst lusted greatly, so the children of Yisra’ĕl also wept again and said, “Who is giving us meat to eat? 5 “We remember the fish which we ate without cost in Mitsrayim, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic,

6 but now our throat is dried up. There is naught to look at but this manna!” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like the appearance of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, and cooked it in a pot, and made cakes of it. And its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.

9 And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it. 10 And Mosheh heard the people weeping throughout their clans, each man at the door of his tent. And the displeasure of יהוה burned exceedingly. And in the eyes of Mosheh it was evil, (ISR)

Instead of remembering that YHWH had liberated them from 400 years of bondage in Egypt and was now feeding everyone supernaturally, they spent their time whining and commiserating about the "good ol' days" when they had plenty of fish and meat to eat! Is it any wonder He became so angry that He gave them so much meat it came out of their nostrils (Numbers 11:20)? It's like He was saying, "I do for you and do for you, and this is how you thank Me?" Ultimately, His anger continued to flare because of their flagrant thanklessness, that in His anger, He decided they needed severe punishment:

Numbers 11:32 The people stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day gathering the quails - the person gathering the least collected ten heaps; then they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still in their mouth, before they had chewed it up, the anger of ADONAI flared up against the people, and ADONAI struck the people with a terrible plague. (CJB)

Truly...we MUST learn to stop the whining, pull ourselves together and actively start doing things HIS way. Torah tells us exactly what His way is...and for those of us who have been Torah observant for awhile, we KNOW what a huge difference it can make in our lives! Halleluyah!