Friday, March 27, 2009

Gratitude Week-Day 6 "God's Gifts"



Numbers 11:4-9

...The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat!

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.

When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.....

Every morning the Isrealites woke up to a ground filled with manna (food), but soon it was not enough for them. They were demanding more; they had forgotten and were not thankful for what they already had been given from God. Dissatisfaction comes when we start to focus on what we don't have instead of what we already have. The people of Isreal did not seem to notice what God was doing for them...first if all(if you read back a little) setting them free, giving them a nation and land...and now they could only focus on what good food they had left behind in Egypt. This made me think hard about what occupies my attention most of the time. Am I grateful for what God has given me, or am I always thinking about what I would like to have? I have learned that we should not allow our unfulfilled desires to cause us to forget about God's gifts of life...for example...food, health, family, friends, our jobs, our home, etc. So Simple, but yet so difficult today in a world filled of self-fulfilling commercials and STUFF.
My prayer for you today is that you can focus and be thankful for the simple gifts that God has already and continues to give you, to stop having an attitude of.."when I have this or that then I will be satisfied."
SMiles. :)


2 comments:

Kari said...

Thanks somuch Stephanie! I've been highly enjoying your gratitude week! I have some felt & fabric sitting on the kitchen table that are soon to become a gratitude journal! Thank you for all of your practical & important encouragements!!

Nicole Suzanne Farley said...

love these posts...you're a stud!

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