The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!

Number 11:5-6

At no cost to you, how often have we heard this familiar phrase? Whether it’s an infomercial late at night or from the salesperson on the phone, at no cost to you seems enticing. Yet sometimes at no cost to you, may leave you finding that it costs far more than you originally expected. The Israelites are just like us today, they romanticized the past and remembered their days in Egypt. Their time in captivity, in a foreign land for over four hundred years, was now being described as times of plenty, filled with good things, unlike the actual days which were filled with slavery and turmoil. In Numbers, the rabble that is described were people like much like ourselves, ones that were unhappy in their current circumstances, comparing what was to what is, and desiring something familiar to something far better. The No Cost evaluation that they desired of good food found in Egypt was paid in their slavery and servitude, not the gracious free food that the Lord provided daily. We can often we find our bondage in the things of this world, the things we are seeking to obtain, the things that have no value but can cost us so much more than we are willing to pay. It is easy to sit back with the rabble around us and join in the complaining, but what are we doing, when we join into the rabble and complain? In reality, we are turning our noses up to the Lord and being ungrateful for the things He provides. When we moan, complain or quickly join in on a squabble that may not even affect us, we are telling the Lord that we find our current state unappealing in some way. The Lord does want to hear us when we are unhappy or have feelings of discontentment, but He wants us to share them with Him, allowing Him to move and change either us or our circumstances to bring good to us and glory to Him. When we seek to control the situation and gather others along with our cause, promoting only the appeal, then we can often find ourselves quickly drawn outside of the safe boundaries that Lord has set up for us. The next time you are tempted to grumble, complain or seek out better options for yourselves because you feel that maybe you deserve it, be reminded that the Lord has good things in store for you. The things the Lord has planned for you have no cost, the Lord offers an alternative to slavery, that of freedom of the things of this world, a hope and a future spent with Him in Heaven, a family of believers who will stand with you in things of this life and these are things that are absolutely priceless!