Today, because many of us are spoiled with the availability of a great abundance and variety of foods, we tend to be sympathetic with [the Israelites as they complain about a lack of meat to eat in Numbers 11.] We ourselves would not want to eat only manna every day. However, we must remember that in the Bible's perspective God provides "our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11); therefore any serious complaints about food, even if it is "only manna," are against God and must be understood to be both ingratitude and sin.
The psalmist captured this when he said, "In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test." (Psalm 106:14)
Discontent about food was part of the disobedience of our first parents. Adam and Eve had been placed in a garden teeming with all kinds of food (Genesis 2), but they rebelled against God because of the one food they were not allowed to eat and were expelled as a result (Genesis 3).
We should be thankful for our food always. That is why offering prayers of thanksgiving before (and in some traditions after) meals is not a useless religious custom with small significance but a right response of a heart properly in tune with God's abounding grace.
(Life of Moses, BSF Lesson 22 notes, p. 2)
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