The Craving

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!” Numbers 11:4

Have you ever liked a food so much that you’ve eaten it until your stomach hurt? It starts out pleasant enough. You’re hungry and your favorite food tastes so good. Somewhere though, you lose control and you’re not eating because your stomach is empty. You’re just eating because you crave more of that food. The thing which you loved, you loved too much, until it made you sick. Addiction is very much like that, except instead of getting a tummy ache, you get a wrecked life.

In my addiction, I knew what I was doing was terribly unhealthy – physically, spiritually, relationally, and professionally. I knew I needed to stop, and I knew there would be terrible consequences if I didn’t. I promised myself a thousand times that I was done. When the craving returned though, I found myself facing a force that I couldn’t resist. In the moment, I simply wanted the drug more than I wanted a healthy life. I promised myself next time would be different. But when the craving returned, I once again surrendered to it.

This craving for the unhealthy is addressed in today’s passage. The object of the Israelites desire was innocent enough – they simply wanted meat to eat. The problem was that God was daily providing manna – bread from heaven – and their craving for meat set them in opposition to God as they complained and longed to return to Egyptian slavery. This angered God who granted their request, in a Be careful what you wish for moment. Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you (Numbers 11:18-20).

This is a life problem for many of us – We crave that which turns us from the life God intends for us. Most of us have some unhealthy place where we find respite or relief from our stressors when we should be finding respite and relief in God. It may be innocent enough – screen time, shopping, or eating – but whatever it is, if that thing turns us from God, replacing him in our lives, it’s unhealthy. If we desire to be spiritually healthy, then daily, we must find our center in God, learning to have our needs met by him. We have cravings because there’s some hole to fill in our lives. It’s our daily choice to fill that with the unhealthy, or to fill it with God. Only in God are our deepest needs truly satisfied. Everything else is an unhealthy craving.