Ingratitude has become a way of life in the world, and it has also found its way into the church. People have valuable only as long as they can serve others. When their services are no longer needed, they are discarded like waste from the dinner table. But should people of faith interact in this way?
The children of Israel’s journey to the promised land was plagued with ingratitude. You would think that a group of people who were slaves for 400 years would be so grateful for freedom that obstacles they encounter as free people would not be a cause for anxiety. God rescued them with a heavy hand: there were plagues in Egypt and the journey across the Red Sea on dry land that killed the Egyptian Army and placed them out of Pharaoh’s reach. They had no food, God gave them manna from heaven; when the water was bitter, God made the bitter water sweet. Yet they complained: “Oh, for some meat! We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” (Numbers 11:5-8 NLT). So, God sent quails and while they were “gorging themselves on the meat” (verse 33) God sent a plague and many of them died.
You would think that they learned their lesson after that episode. Well, when they arrived at the door of the Promised Land, God instructed Moses to send 12 men to spy out the land. When they returned, 10 of the men gave an evil report. You would think that they would remember the God who led them out of slavery; instead, they told the camp that the acquisition of the land is mission Impossible. The people didn’t listen to Joshua and Caleb who said it was possible. As a result, God visited the camp. Those 10 men died, and the company wondered in the wilderness for 40 years until the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness; they never made it to the Promised Land. They paid a high price for their ingratitude towards God.
Thought for Today: Friend, ingratitude has consequences.
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