A DIFFERENT SENSE OF PURPOSE

Moses never experienced the deprivations of his circumstances. As a result of being free from the slave experience, he developed a higher sense of priorities that were not formed by his need for survival. Slaves on the other hand, as the Hebrew people, had experienced the daily struggle for the things they needed in order to survive, such as food, water, shelter and clothing. These are ordinary necessities for man’s physical survival and the Hebrew’s longing for their needs to be met. That is why we see over and over again their struggle to overcome their need for food and their dependence on God to satisfy these needs. To them, this was a sign of freedom, the absence of physical want and need. They had spent their entire lives as slaves trying to obtain these things. Now as free men, they still did not see their God, Jehovah Jirah, the one who provides, satisfying their basic desire and drives. Their mindset did not understand what true freedom was. Let me illustrate this point to you by my own personal experience while I was growing up during famine and war.

In East Berlin, during the Russian occupation, it seemed we never had enough to eat and because of this, food took on a new meaning for us. It was not only a need which we satisfied in order to live, but it became an outlet which gave us a sense of security and a momentary relief from our fears, helplessness and captivity. Our thoughts might be something like this, “Well, we have something to eat right now. Things must not be too bad. Look at all the cakes we have to choose from. At least we have that freedom left.”

If we had a party, no one would have ever believed there was a famine in our land. My mother would bake cakes, not just one cake, but three, five and even ten different kinds of cakes. Each cake represented at least three to five hours or longer of waiting in a food line in order to buy the necessary ingredients for that one cake. Each cake became a sign of victory that we had overcome the lack in our heart and found a way to express our heart’s cry and need for freedom and individuality.

That is why I can understand the struggle that the Hebrew people had those years in the desert as they stumbled over and over again when the testing came to choose human need or their need for God. It is just a result of our human condition. Until our desires are directed to a higher life and level of life, we seek to satisfy our human desires. All of us have to find the truth that man does not live by bread alone. If we do not seek the food, we seek for more power or more money. It is still the same result of being a slave to our human drives and existence.

Moses’ spirit, on the other hand, desired this higher satisfaction. His spirit cried out for different things and his cries found their expression and fulfillment in God. He knew that even if all his physical needs were met, unless the need of his soul was met, there would always be an insatiable gnawing of emptiness in his life. He knew that only God could touch his soul and without that touch nothing else was of any consequence.

How does the Scripture describe the expression of the Hebrew children in their journey with God in the desert? “But now our whole being is dried up, there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” (Numbers 11:6) It was a true expression of their state of being at that time and exactly what God needed them to feel in order to desire Him. Yet, when faced with their emptiness and need for fulfillment in their soul, they cried out for fleshly satisfaction. This manna was not an expression of their desires; it was a deprivation to them. It had no fleshly appeal and they did not love God enough to find out why He considered it enough for them. Their vision was blinded because their identity was to their slave life. The things God had set before them were gifts for a free man, but because they were not free, they could not see their value.

Moses on the other hand, realized the value of these gifts; the manna, the pillar of fire, the cloud by day and their attitude became a heavy burden upon him. Moses knew that God was not always moved to pity in the times when they cried out to Him. He was angered at the selfishness and sinfulness of their ways because they continued to refuse to trust Him and obey His laws which would have set them free from their slavery. Because Moses carried the burden of God, it meant he was aware of God’s will towards them in the situation, and the burden required that he declare the word of God and also act on behalf of the Israelite nation. “Now when the people complained, it displease the LORD; and the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire was quenched.” (Numbers 11:1-2)

In His Love,
      Sigi

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