1. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORSAKING AN ORDINANCE AND BEING UNABLE TO KEEP IT DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES.
Numbers 9:10-13:
"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's Passover. On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin."The Passover was intended to be kept on the first month, but God made provisions for those who were hindered due to circumstances. However, there was no excuse for the one who simply forsook the Passover and could have kept it during the first month. When a Christian does not assemble with the church as he is commanded to (cf. Heb. 10:24,25), God knows whether the reason is valid (e.g., genuine illness) or merely a pitiful excuse (e.g., lack of discipline or desire).
2. INGRATITUDE IS A TERRIBLE SIN.
Numbers 11:4-6 - "Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and 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; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!'"
Manna was a miracle food they were blessed to eat every day. They eventually took this miracle for granted, however, and grew tired of it. Where was their gratitude? They'd rather be slaves with meat available to them? Seriously?! This reminds me of the foolish and destructive thinking of some self-centered Christians who would rather be slaves to the world that they might drown themselves in lust instead of living as sanctified children of God! We repeat the words of our Lord from Luke 17:17 - "Where are the nine?"
3. GOD CAN DO ANYTHING HE DESIRES TO DO.
Numbers 11:18-23:
"...Therefore 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 for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him saying, 'Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?' And Moses said, 'The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, "I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month." Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?' And the LORD said to Moses, 'Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.'"The people's complaining and lack of faith was wearing off on Moses a bit. He wondered if God really meant what He said, and the answer is: Of course He did! God can do anything He desires to do, and may we never forget this! Could He provide enough meat for two million mouths for a month? Absolutely, and it would not even be difficult for Jehovah--the One who has made the heavens and the earth out of nothing (cf. Jer. 32:17)!