"We want meat! We want meat" chanted the angry israelites. "But I gave you manna," said God.

"We want meat! We want meat!" they persisted. "Fine," said God. "The Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'" (Num 11:18-20).

The same thing happened when Israel demanded a king (1 Sam 8). God was to be their king but the Israelites wanted to be like all the other nations.

It wasn't craving meat or longing for a king that offended God but their rejection of Him as sufficient for their food and Him as their worthy King. Israel kept reminding God of the cucumbers and melons and leeks they enjoyed in Egypt, the same nation that enslaved them for 400 years, the same nation God delivered them from. And now to complain about not getting the variety of food they enjoyed in Egypt after God saved them from four centuries of cruel mastery and gave them manna that conveniently showed up on their doorstep every morning, pushed God to a limit.

Likewise, it wasn't sinful for Israel to want a king. God even predicted that they'd have a king: "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves" (Deut 17:14-15).

The problem was Israel's motive for wanting a king. They wanted a human king because they had rejected God as their king. They cared not for a king who would teach them the way of the Lord but wanted to be like all the other nations.

And so instead of withholding their desire, God gave them what they requested and let the consequences be theirs. They got the meat until it was coming out of their nostrils. They got a king and it ended in national defeat and their own king committing suicide (1 Sam 31).

Yet in spite of Israel's stiff-necked rebellion, God in His gracious mercy brought them the bread that lasts forever, the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the King who reigns forever, Jesus the Messiah (John 12:13).

God's mercy and grace is no different for us. We complain, we whine, we point out the pennies that we don't have, all the while ignoring the mountains of gold God has stored for us both here and after. Is it any wonder that every soul set free will some day fall before the throne and cry out, "Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb who was slain!"?