Getting Our Way

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! - Isaiah 5:20

An Old Testament story tells how God supernaturally provided for the children of Israel on a daily basis with something from heaven called manna. As they journeyed through the wilderness, the manna would be waiting for them every morning when they would come out of their tents. All they had to do was pick it up and eat it.

But after awhile, they got tired of manna. They said, "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic . . . " (Numbers 11:4-6 NKJV). When the Israelites complained, Moses went to God, and the Bible says that it rained quail. They were about knee-high in quail. But it turned bitter in their mouths.

The funny thing is that when the devil reminds us of our past, we often look at it through rose colored glasses. He never says, "Remember how empty you were? Remember that guilt that would never go away? Remember how afraid you were to die?" Instead, he reminds us of the few good times we had, even though the bad times outweighed them.

How foolish we are when we try to keep God out of our lives as we blindly pursue our plans and passions. Many times God will not let us get what we're after. But sometimes He will, so that we'll see it is not what we thought it was. It has been said there are two sources of unhappiness in life: One is not getting what you want. The other is getting it.