DON’T OVEREAT

DON’T OVEREAT

Now the Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means “graves of gluttony”) because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt. From Kibroth-hattaavah the Israelites traveled to Hazeroth, where they stayed for some time. —Numbers 11:31-35

The craving for “meat from Egypt” and the gluttony that took place brought about the wrath of God. People were judged and died for their attitude and actions. Gluttony– we do not hear much about it today. What is it? It is eating in excess and it leads to being overweight which is not healthy for the body— physically or spiritually— “for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags” (Proverbs 23:21).

“The average restaurant meal in the United States is four times larger now than it was in the 1950s, yet we might still be fitting into the same size clothes as we always have. That’s because what was a size 14 dress in the 1970s is not the same size garment today. The Economist found that women’s size 14 (UK) clothes are about 3 inches larger in the hips than they were in 1970, thus about the equivalent of a 1970s size 18. Men’s clothes also lie: a recent Esquire investigation found that some brands of 36-inch trousers actually measured as much as 41 inches.” — http://evilbydesign.info/gluttony/ If this is true, what deception!

A short time back I was reading the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 and was thinking and pondering verse 11— “Give us today our daily bread.” We are asking God to give us the bread that we need for that day. Do I eat more than the bread I need for that day? God had given the Israelites what they needed each day for 40 years of their wandering (Exodus 16:35), but they were not satisfied. Am I satisfied with the daily bread God gives me? So I desire more than the daily bread He desires me to have? It was just another way I was pondering that verse. May I use His resources wisely! Gluttony is eating in excess… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PyInyZn_0M

Dear Father, I thank You for Your daily provision. Please help me discern Your desired use of those daily provisions. May it be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.