Crying About Dinner: Eldad, Medad, and YOUdad.

When the burden was this heavy, sleeping was hopeless! Pastor Moses just got up. He tried going for a walk. He had logged miles of nocturnal worry-walking recently. His church was very large, talented, and ambitious. He'd hoped the honeymoon of his initial popularity would last for years, but the problem wasn't him. What did his precious members need? They were spiritual. What was wrong? Wait a minute. Is that whispering? Pastor Moses slowed his pace outside a member home. They're praying. No, they're crying!

"Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The LORD was very angry; Moses was also provoked...'Why did you burden me with all these people...so you should tell me, 'Carry them at your breast, as a nanny carries a baby?'" (Numbers 11:10,12, Christian Standard Bible)

They're crying about food! Pastor Moses' professional counselor friend had described adolescent clients with nothing more substantive to post on Facebook than photos of their food! I've had it with these people! "Are You angry, too, God?" "I Am," echoed from the Tent of Meeting as a whoosh of divine draft flapped its sacred coverings and the desert floor tremored.

"Life is more than food," (Luke 12:23, Christian Standard Bible) yet that's what they're whining about! I could see my members being disappointed that their neighbors talk incessantly about quarterbacks but never think about You as their Signal Caller. Do clumps of members gather in the lobby to lament those at work who haven't yet chosen the Savior? No. Do my members share friendship strategies? Rally around other members' friends who came today to give our service a try? No. Are they excited that the church calendar includes an event "right down the alley" of that new patient they plan to invite? No. My members are animated alright! They're crying! But, only about food! Just food. "And, Lord, by the way, our saints are finicky about You only providing them one dish! How can they be tired of eating manna, the flakiest delicacy on earth? And Your recipe makes that of the finest Greek pastry chef's baklava pale in comparison!"

"Now manna was reminiscent of coriander seed, with an appearance similar to amber...It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil." (Numbers 11:7-8, International Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible) "God, You're a "honey!" Whom else would provide You-Pick dessert in this desert?! Yet, every family in my church is wailing! That's what's wrong! At first I thought my members were teary-eyed, wanting to be used to tell the World about the Lamb of God. Instead, they're dreaming of mutton and lamb chops, preoccupied with appetite and food lust! Meanwhile, God wants to pour upon the whole Church His Own sweet Spirit, move it to fulfill its real mission, and take us into the Promised Land soon!

With their purpose forgotten, the complaining had never been worse! Who cares if it's a miracle? I don't want to wear the same shoes for 40 years! The Pastor promises milk and honey when we get there. We want leeks and onions! When will we ever get a new pastor? Everybody knows it's all about the magic rod he carries, no real talent of his own! The guy should retire. We want somebody without his baggage of being raised by the enemy Egyptians! Sack the bum!

When members talk like that it takes a toll on the best servant leaders. Moses was as sensitive and caring as the 50% of modern pastors who drop out of ministry within five years. Many of them never go back to church. (Alban Institute and Fuller Seminary, 2003) Moses was hurt deeply and felt the same.

A Duke University study found that 85% of seminary graduates entering the ministry leave within five years and 90% of all pastors will not stay to retirement. In the North Georgia clergy study, the attrition rate ran as high as 90% for those having served 20 years or more. (Duke University, October 2007) "I cannot carry this whole nation! The burden is too heavy for me! If this is how you treat me, please kill me right now, if I’ve found favor in your eyes." (Numbers 11:14-15, International Standard Version) Moses felt the same. "Have mercy, Jehovah. Take my life. You can have my Calling!"

For Moab University Seminary grad, Moses, equipping his flock for Gospel-sharing was everything! Class discussion assumed sheep would want nothing more than to make more sheep. It is as biological as it is theological. True followers of our loving Maker will love like He does. And loving people for Jesus produces New Births! Looking back, it was so pure and simple: Love God and love others. Beleauguered by church politics, rampant gossip, turning worship into ritual, and now this preoccupation with taste and class, it seemed like forever since even one member had mentioned anything at all that was mission-focused! "Riff raff," (Numbers 11:4, Christian Standard Bible) his snooty church thought of anybody drawn by the beauty without owning the pedigree themselves.

God's ears are good. His heart is even better! This Preacher is too good to lose! "The LORD answered Moses, 'Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you... I will take some of the Spirit Who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden'... Then the LORD descended in the cloud... He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied... Two men had remained in camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad--they were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent--and they prophesied in the camp... a young man ran and reported to Moses, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.' Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, responded, 'Moses, my lord stop them!' But Moses asked him, 'Are you jealous on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets and the LORD would place His Spirit on them!!'" (Numbers 11:16-17, 25-29, Christian Standard Bible)

If only, indeed! They weren't Billy Graham! They weren't Mark Finley or Dwight Nelson! They certainly weren't the stars of the church, 'cause they missed the ordination service. But, they didn't miss the Spirit! They didn't miss the reason God put breaths in their lungs and beats in their heart muscle! Their faith in God and love for people got soaked in the Spirit and God's Work took off!

Want to see your Pastor refreshed in the Spirit? Want to experience the radiant energy a steady infusion of new converts brings to a church? Want self denial to replace competition and status-seeking? Want capital campaigns to disappear in a perpetual flood of generosity? Want your church's arguments over music and worship style and sanctuary renovations to fade away in the unifying priority of offering salvation to all within your church's love reach? Then, just pray for a drenching of God's Holy Spirit! Declare, "I exist for Him!...that I may by every possible means save some!" (1Corinthians 8:6;9:22, Christian Standard Bible) God gave that spiritual power pack to Eldad and Medad in ancient Israel. God wants to swamp YOUdad in the same moist miracle, today. Next stop: Heaven's Promised Land!

Let's do it and go home!

Your friend,

Chaplain Dave

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