God selected a choice group people for a special relationship from the beginning. Starting with Abraham and branching out to generations, these people were the ones, of all the peoples of the earth, that God singles out to be a holy people to Him.

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  Deuteronomy 14:2

I would think it would be quite an honor, the highest honor, to be chosen by the one who made heaven and earth.

Until the events begin to unfold in the story of these people, being chosen by God would initially appear to be the equivalent of winning the ultimate Oscar, with lifetime benefits.  Chosen by GOD.  Doesn’t that translate to being elevated to first class, a special class of winners, superior people, privileged elite?  God, the all-powerful God, would elevate these people to a status shared by no one else on the face of the earth.

However, God’s chosen people, who became the nation of Israel, have a few minor inconveniences to live with now. Such as famine, and slavery.  Now that they are God’s chosen people, instead of rising, it seems they have been severely humbled, facing starvation and death, and ending up as slaves in Egypt. It appears being chosen by God positioned them in a lowered, vulnerable and even desperate state. Slaves have no rights, command no respect, and are expected to work hard for no pay or rewards.

Regardless of their enslaved state, the Israelites position of being special and holy to God is still stamped on their foreheads. They remain chosen, but now they are also hurting.  Chosen, but now enslaved and needing deliverance.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.  Psalm 107:13,14

Deliverance arrives. God sends a deliverer at the sound of their cry. Moses arrives to lead them miraculously out of Egypt with a series of supernatural happenings, culminating in the parting of the Red Sea.  The biography of this chosen nation is starting to improve as God shows up on the scene, leads them by pillar of cloud and fire by night, and sends food for them. And through Moses He reveals they are on their way to a land “flowing with milk and honey.”

Wouldn’t it have been interesting to overhear the conversations of the Israelites as they walked on through the wilderness each day, following the cloud and picking up their day’s rations each morning?  For, they were literally living a miracle.  They were experiencing Almighty God at His most intimate and closest, leading and feeding His chosen people. Not the norm when a tribe walks into the desert.

Would they have said, each morning, “how special we are.  Look at how God is leading us and sending us our food each day. What a privilege it is to be one of God’s chosen.”

These chosen people, who have received more from God than any people on earth, could revel in the closeness of Him leading them. They could jump out of bed with a chorus of praises on their lips, thanking God for another day of walking behind His guidance and eating manna.

But, we know that this did not happen. The people experiencing all of this did not appreciate the supernatural miracle behind this lifestyle, the amazing provision they were experiencing.  Quite the opposite.

And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes…and the people of Israel also wept again…”and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”  Numbers 11:1, 4,6

Manna, heavenly manna that was “like the taste of cakes baked with oil” was given to them freely, without labor or effort on their part. The Israelites, though, craved the food they had in Egypt, under severe punishment and intolerable conditions.

The people of Israel did not like the food that came directly from heaven. In their minds, collecting this manna every day was a little too personal. Although miraculous, it did not meet their expectations. I think their response to the manna revealed that part of them that wanted to be in control, to be the master of their own choices. I can so identify with this. Can you? As the reality of what being chosen really meant began to sink in, they cried out about their misfortune.

We trust God to save us, to deliver us from the power of sin, and it’s a big deal. It’s not that we want to return to our former life again. However, there are pieces of our old worldly life that still cling to us. There is humility involved in being fed by God’s hand and that is harder to grasp. Our pride, habits, ways, preferences, loves, can actually seems a better path than submitting to the miraculous ways God is providing for me. 

In other words, I like to say I’m chosen by God, and I am. If the deeper meaning of being chosen is relinquishing my ability to control where He leads me and how He provides for me, I feel some pain at being chosen. Jesus told His followers many truths. He told them they were children of God, chosen and greatly loved. He also told them to die and hide their life in Him.

I wonder why it is so easy to accept being chosen and even deliverance, and not the humbling of ourselves so we can enjoy miraculous manna for our daily needs.