I can’t perform a miracle!

11 So Moses said to the Lord, Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me?12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child, to the land which You swore to their fathers?13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, Give us meat, that we may eat.14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now if I have found favor in Your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness!

- Numbers 11:11-15

Apparently, Moses learned nothing from how God had provided for the Israelites previous to this encounter. Not to rehash everything that I talked about yesterday, but when Pharaoh’s men were bearing down on them, God parted the Red Sea. When they were hungry, he provided food and sustenance through manna. Consistently God had provided for them and yet they still didn’t believe that He would continue to do so.

Moses complains to God, asking Him why nobody likes him. Why are all these people still complaining to me? They aren’t my children, I didn’t actually bear them, so why don’t you take care of them? This bunch of crybabies all want meat now, and I can’t provide it for them. These people are too much to handle by myself and this is your problem. Do me a favor and kill me if you really love me. Honestly, he sounds like a lovelorn teenager who can’t handle life without their (imagined) true love. Someone with all the emotions, but little of the required perspective.

It’s easy to see how Moses could be shortsighted about these things, isn’t it? He was stuck in the wilderness with around one million people, many of whom were complaining about him. In trying what he could to keep everyone happy, he still found that some turned on him and said it wasn’t enough. It must be what the President of the United States often feels, regardless of who is in office. It’s a good thing that Moses didn’t have Twitter, or else he might have been inundated with comments, all hashtagged with #firemoses.

Don’t we all have something in our lives looming over us, something that we know needs to be done but we can’t seem to figure out how we are going to accomplish it? Maybe you have a mountain of debt to take care of. There might be a relationship that is broken that you have been trying to fix for years. There might be something at work that you just can’t quite seem to wrap up. Maybe your weight is out of control but you can’t seem to change any of your bad habits.

The problem is often that we look at it like Moses did, and we see the burden as too heavy. We have this idea that we have to carry it all by ourselves, but that isn’t the case. Take heart that God never intends for us to bear at all alone. He wants to help us carry that weight, and He has put people in our lives to help carry the load as well.

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

- Matthew 11:28-30

I encourage you to place your burdens on God, knowing full well that you cannot bear them alone. Find a group of believers that you can confide in and allow them to walk the path with you, helping you to carry that cross. Think about what burdens you continue to carry that you have no ability to meet, and take them to Christ. Find your rest in Him.