When God’s Yes means No! “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Ps 106:15).
“There is nothing at all except this manna,” said the people, pouting (Num 11:6). Moses had no idea where to get meat to add to their diet and told the Lord about it. The Lord was not happy. Have you heard of fathers catching their sons smoking, and making them consume a whole pack until they turn green and never smoke again? God told Moses that if they insisted on “improving” the diet He had provided, “You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you” (vv 19-20). The meat of the quail (Coturnix) is dark and rich, ideal for a meal but not every day for a month! Sure enough, a wind swept the quail from their usual pathway into the Israelite camp, with them “fluttering…all around the camp, and about two cubits [or three feet] above the surface of the ground” (v 31). There were so many, each person was able to gather about 8 bushels of the little birds. But the leaders of this dietary rebellion didn’t get to enjoy them. “While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. So He called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah” [meaning “Graves of Lust”] (vv 33-34). Jude puts the warning succinctly: “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts” (v 16). What a picture! Imagine being dragged around by your lusts like a drug addict! The worst kind of answered prayer is receiving what we want, not what God wants for us. Far better to be content with what God gives us, believing that He always knows best.