"While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague." -Numbers 11:33

The whole thrust of Numbers 11 ends here. The people are restless; they have become bored with the daily provision of food from God and tired from the journey to the Promised Land. A reckless few begin grumbling about the blessings of God and incite a riot of discontent and complaint before God.

What do these complainers in the wilderness have to do with us? Quite a lot actually. While we may not be walking through the wilderness, we are prone to disregard the blessing of God and begin to have “dreams” of more or remember the good ol' days when things were different. We set aside the gift of grace that is the cross and resurrection, and in our forgetting, life goes off the rails.

While the meat they complained for was still between their teeth, all of those that had the craving died. Judgment. Cleaning the camp. Preparing the faithful for the Promised Land. God brings judgment to reveal his glory; the people who are lost in their lust are struck down and not left to their craving.

Today judgment may not look like this. For his greatest glory, Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross of judgment—one we deserved—and redeemed the greedy and lustful (that's us). Then by his resurrection, he gives us a life in his Kingdom with new purpose, new vigor, and a new destination. When the struggles and aches of craving come now, it is to these truths we return; we remember—and in that remembrance, we rejoice and worship this gracious God.

Today, if you are in Christ, your complaining is covered by his blood. The judgment against it has been handled, and you are now free as a Kingdom citizen to set aside those lusts for something else or return to the oppression of whichever slave master was yours. Be free in Christ; recognize the provision of his grace, and live.