The Lusts of a Full Stomach: Text: Psalm 78:17-20
Introduction: The Mystery of Ingratitude
We live in an age that has mastered the art of ingratitude. We are drowning in blessings, suffocating under mountains of material prosperity that would make Solomon blush, and yet our default disposition is one of complaint. We have search engines that can answer any question in a fraction of a second, and we get angry when the WiFi lags. We have grocery stores overflowing with food from every corner of the globe, and we grumble about the price of avocados. This is not a new problem. This is the ancient problem of the human heart, and it is on full display here in Psalm 78.
Asaph, the psalmist, is giving us an inspired commentary on the history of Israel. This is not just a history lesson; it is a parable, a "dark saying of old." And like all of Scripture's parables, it is designed to reveal the inner workings of our own hearts. The history of Israel in the wilderness is our history. Their rebellion is our rebellion. Their unbelief is a mirror reflecting our own. They had seen God split the Red Sea, they were following a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, and they were drinking water that God had just caused to gush out of a solid rock. They were living in a world saturated with daily, undeniable miracles. And what was their response? They sinned yet more.
This is what the psalmist calls the mystery of unbelief. It is a profound spiritual insanity. It is looking at a mountain of evidence for God's goodness and power and then asking for a signed affidavit. It is the refusal to connect the dots. God could perform marvel after marvel, and the sinful heart will always find a reason to doubt the next one. This passage is a diagnosis of that condition. It shows us that the root of rebellion is not intellectual; it is moral. It is not a lack of evidence; it is a lack of submission. The Israelites were not hungry for food; they were hungry for control. They wanted a god they could order around, a cosmic bellhop to satisfy their cravings. And when we come to this text, we must ask ourselves if we are any different.
The Text
Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
And in their heart they put God to the test
By asking for food according to their desire.
Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He give bread also?
Will He prepare meat for His people?”
(Psalm 78:17-20 LSB)
The Compounding Folly of Rebellion (v. 17)
We begin with the stark reality of their persistent sin.
"Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert." (Psalm 78:17)
The word "Yet" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. It connects this rebellion to the immediately preceding verses which describe God's miraculous provision of water from the rock. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink. In the face of this staggering display of power and care, what do they do? They continue to sin. This is not a one-off mistake. This is a settled pattern, a trajectory of rebellion. The Hebrew word for rebel here means to be bitter or contentious. It is a defiant insolence.
And notice who they are rebelling against: "the Most High." This is not a minor deity, a local god of the hills. This is Elyon, the sovereign ruler of all creation. Their rebellion is therefore the height of absurdity. It is a flea shaking its fist at a star. They are doing this "in the desert," a place where their absolute dependence on Him was demonstrated every single moment of every single day. In the city, a man can delude himself into thinking he is self-sufficient. In the desert, you know you are utterly dependent. Their rebellion was not born of ignorance, but of a hard-hearted refusal to acknowledge the obvious reality of their situation. They saw His provision, they drank His water, and then they looked Him in the eye and continued their mutiny.
The Heart of the Matter (v. 18)
Verse 18 gets to the root of the problem, which is always the heart.
"And in their heart they put God to the test By asking for food according to their desire." (Psalm 78:18 LSB)
The sin begins in the heart. The murmuring and complaining that will come out of their mouths is just the fruit. The root is a heart that "put God to the test." What does this mean? It means they were demanding that God prove Himself on their terms. It is setting up a hoop and demanding that God jump through it to prove His love or His power. It is an arrogant reversal of the proper order. We are to be tested by God; we are not to be the ones testing Him.
And what was the nature of their test? "By asking for food according to their desire." The Hebrew word for desire here is nephesh, which can mean soul, appetite, or craving. They were not asking for food to survive; God was already providing that with manna. They were demanding food to satisfy their lusts. They remembered the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, and the leeks of Egypt (Numbers 11:5). They were slaves in Egypt, but they had a menu they liked. Now they were free men under God's direct care, eating the bread of angels, and they loathed it. Their problem was not an empty stomach, but a greedy heart. They did not want what God provided; they wanted what they craved. This is the essence of all sin: demanding that God cater to our desires rather than submitting our desires to God.
The Blasphemy of Unbelief (v. 19)
From the sinful heart comes the blasphemous mouth.
"Then they spoke against God; They said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?'" (Psalm 78:19 LSB)
Their speech is "against God." This is not a humble prayer for provision. This is an accusation. This is slander against the Almighty. Their question, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" is dripping with cynical contempt. A table speaks of abundance, of a feast, of civilized order and bounty. They are in a desert, a place of desolation. Their question is a rhetorical jab: "Sure, God can do little parlor tricks with water, but can He do this? Can He really provide a full, civilized meal out here?"
They are questioning both God's ability and His goodness. They are implying that He has brought them out to this desolate place with no real plan to care for them. They are measuring the infinite God by the barrenness of their surroundings instead of measuring their surroundings by the infinite power of God. This is the fundamental error of unbelief. Unbelief looks at the circumstances and says, "This is impossible." Faith looks at God and says, "All things are possible."
Selective Memory and Willful Doubt (v. 20)
The final verse in our text reveals the intellectual dishonesty at the heart of their rebellion.
"Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He prepare meat for His people?" (Psalm 78:20 LSB)
Here, they actually acknowledge God's previous miracle. They say, "Behold, He struck the rock..." They saw it with their own eyes. They admit the waters "gushed out" and the streams were "overflowing." There is no denying the power that was on display. But look at the very next words: "Can He give bread also?" This is staggering. It is the logic of a lunatic.
The God who can create oceans of water from a dry rock is somehow stymied by a loaf of bread? The God who can sustain two million people with supernatural water is going to be stumped by a barbecue? This is not a failure of logic; it is a willful refusal to apply logic. It is the deliberate compartmentalization of God's power. They are willing to grant Him power in the past, but they refuse to trust Him for the future. They will acknowledge what He has done, but they will not believe what He can do.
This is the mystery of unbelief in its purest form. It is a spiritual blindness that refuses to see. It is a heart so set on its own lusts that it will perform the most absurd mental gymnastics to avoid the simple conclusion that God is God, that He is good, and that He can be trusted. They do not want to trust Him, so they declare that He cannot be trusted, despite all evidence to the contrary.
The Table in Our Wilderness
As with all of Israel's history, this is a parable for us. The Apostle Paul tells us that these things happened to them as examples, and they were written down for our instruction (1 Cor. 10:11). We are also in a wilderness, a world that is not our home. And God has also struck a Rock for us, so that living water might gush out. That Rock, Paul tells us, was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4).
On the cross, the true Rock was struck by the rod of God's justice. And from His wounded side flowed not just water, but water and blood, the fountain of our salvation and cleansing. Through His death, we have been given the living water of the Holy Spirit, an overflowing stream that satisfies our deepest thirst. God has done the infinitely harder thing. He has solved the problem of sin, death, and Hell. He has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of His Son.
And yet, how often do we stand, drenched in this grace, and ask the same foolish questions? "Behold, He saved me from eternal damnation... but can He get me through this financial difficulty? Behold, He conquered death itself... but will He provide for my family next month?" We look at our circumstances, our wilderness, and we speak against God. We test Him in our hearts by demanding that He provide for us according to our desires, our lusts, our timetable, our definition of the good life.
Their question was, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" And the answer of the entire Bible is a resounding YES. In fact, He has already done it. He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23:5). And at the head of that table sits the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the true Bread from heaven. He does not just give bread; He is the bread. He does not just provide a meal; He is the meal.
The sin of Israel was to despise the manna and long for the leeks of Egypt. Our sin is to come to the Lord's Table, to taste the Bread of Life and drink the cup of salvation, and then to walk away and grumble that our lives are not more comfortable. The answer to the rebellious heart is not more miracles. The answer is repentance. It is to stop testing God and to start trusting Him. It is to look at the cross, the ultimate rock that was struck for us, and to conclude, once and for all, that the God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will most certainly, along with Him, graciously give us all things.