Resources: Lesson Manuscript, PowerPoint, and Devotional
Franklin Heights Church Connect Groups: https://franklinheights.org/connect/groups/
Review: Last week we looked at how God leads us and guides us sometimes having us wait and other times telling us to move. Dependence is the key and with it, we have His peace.
The PowerPoint for this lesson can be found through clicking the link to drca;ebwalker.com and it will be at the top.
Title: Provision
Text: Numbers 11:4-17
Key Verse: Numbers 11:23, “And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
Theme: God hears His leaders and sustains them for His purposes.
Introduction: Sometimes we make a decision to do something and find out we’re in over our heads, we don’t have the tools or skills necessary to complete the task, and we’re overwhelmed. Or have you ever planned to wash some clothes or change the oil only to find out the detergent’s out or you forgot to pick up the replacement oil? The tools aren’t ready for the task. God meets us when we feel overwhelmed at the task and feel ill-equipped.
Main Points:
- Dissatisfied Followers (Numbers 11:4-9)
“4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.”
There was a group stirring up strife within the Israelites, and this group we could call “riffraff” refers to a group that were non-Jews who had left Egypt with Israel under Moses’s leadership in Exodus 12:37-38. They were stirring up trouble centered around how tired they were of eating the manna God had provided. They wanted meat, fish, and vegetables, and romanticized their past in Egypt, thinking somehow it was better, when in reality it was slavery. Have you ever noticed that tendency to romanticize past brokenness?
Gospel: God’s salvation redeems us from past brokenness, and therefore we should guard our hearts and minds from thinking of our “B.C.”/Before Christ in any way other than how God thinks of it: brokenness, sin, lostness, and under the blood, never to return and certainly never to be romanticized.
People often romanticize the past or have regrets about the present in comparison to the past. A good transition statement to the gospel when we encounter folks in this state would be: “I haven’t experienced that regret exactly, but I have had my share of regrets. May I share with you the hope I have found in Jesus for my regrets?”
We should take a cue from their negative example to monitor what we crave for in the Christian life; may it be Christ.
II. Frustrated Leader (Numbers 11:10-15)
“10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
As much as Moses was frustrated over their complaints, it’s noteworthy that God was angry with their behavior, the Hebrew wording here, “someone burning or being ablaze with fury,” “incensed”. Now that the people were angrily ungrateful, Moses runs through a series of questions as to why they were doing this. He goes so far in his frustrated state as to ask God to take his very life from him.
Verse 15 reveals Moses’s struggles with anger, which would later hinder him from the Promised Land. How do you handle the frustrations and the circumstances that would anger you in this life?
III. Gracious Provision (Numbers 11:16-17)
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.’”
God’s response was not to wipe out the people; instead, God’s response was to come alongside Moses to make his job more doable through delegated leadership of 70 men, 70 elders, who were filled with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God will work outside our box of expectations to help us walk through the trial with what we need, rather than what we want. Moses wanted to be taken out of the trial (out of everything), but God wanted him to be taken through the trial. God knows just what we need, despite what we want. Moses would continue leading this people, freshly aware if his weaknesses, his prone-ness toward anger, his prone-ness toward being a quitter, and in the hallowed presence of God, God would come to his aid; what a gracious and merciful and kind God we serve.
Many Connect Group Leaders, pastors, ministers experience burnout, and it’s important that saints in whom the Spirit of God is dwelling with free reign are equipped to do the work of the ministry, to evangelize, to disciple, to raise up new Connect Group leaders, to advance the kingdom of God as He would have them. It’s so important that leaders in God’s church don’t just pour out but continually fill up and refresh their hearts and minds in the word and prayer, journaling, silence and solitude, and the other disciplines so that they can pour out. I am so thankful for the incredible Connect group leaders at Franklin Heights and their good work week after week; they work hard and prepare to teach God’s word. Pastors are to shepherd the flock and lead, but they don’t have to lead or shoulder everything alone, nor should they. God is raising up believers who are ready to roll up their sleeves, evangelize their lost friends, get them to church, see them discipled, and be equipped for the work. Let’s give ourselves to this eternally worthwhile work, brothers and sisters.
Doctrine: Our key doctrine for this week is the Holy Spirit.
Lifeway says, “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine.”
Exodus 31:2-3, “2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,”
Discussion Questions:
What can you do to help you remember God’s past blessings?
Big Takeaway(s):
Believers should be careful not to take God’s provisions for granted.
We can always take our concerns to God, telling Him what we need.
We can trust God to provide what we need to carry out the tasks He gives us.
Caleb Walker 
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