The Gluttony of Unbelief Text: Psalm 78:21-31
Introduction: The Full Stomach and the Empty Heart
We live in a soft and sentimental age, an age that has tried to domesticate God. The modern god is a therapeutic deity, a celestial butler whose job is to affirm our choices and ensure our comfort. He is certainly not a God of wrath, and he would never, ever be angry. But the God of the Bible, the God who actually exists, is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. He is a consuming fire. And one of the things that most provokes His holy anger is the sin of unbelief, particularly when that unbelief is expressed by those who have been the recipients of His most staggering miracles.
This psalm, a historical lesson set to music by Asaph, is a long and sober recounting of Israel's covenant infidelity. It is a catalog of God's mighty acts of salvation and Israel's persistent, thick-headed rebellion. The section before us today is a particularly sharp and pointed illustration of this dynamic. It shows us a people who were miraculously fed from heaven and yet were spiritually starving. Their bellies were full of angel food, but their hearts were full of faithless grumbling. They received grace upon grace and answered it with insolence upon insolence.
And in this, they serve as a potent warning for us. We are a people drowning in blessing. We have Bibles on our phones, sermons on demand, and more material comfort than Solomon could have imagined. But with all our abundance, are our hearts grateful? Or have we, like Israel, begun to trust in the gifts while despising the Giver? This passage is a stark reminder that it is possible to have the taste of God's provision in your mouth at the very moment His judgment is falling upon you. It teaches us that the most dangerous spiritual condition is not abject poverty, but ungrateful prosperity. Unbelief is not an intellectual problem; it is a moral and spiritual disease of the heart, and it is a disease that God takes very seriously.
The Text
Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation. Yet He commanded the skies above And opened the doors of heaven; He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them grain from heaven. Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them provision to satisfy. He led forth the east wind in the heavens And by His strength He guided the south wind. Then He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp, All around His dwelling places. So they ate and were very satisfied, And their desire He brought to them. Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths, The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel.
(Psalm 78:21-31 LSB)
The Fire of Faithlessness (v. 21-22)
We begin with the divine reaction to Israel's grumbling.
"Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation." (Psalm 78:21-22)
The first thing we must establish is that God's wrath is not like our childish temper tantrums. It is not a petty, irritable outburst. God's wrath is the settled, holy, and righteous opposition of His entire being to sin. And here, the specific sin that kindles this fire is unbelief. Notice the direct causal link: "Because they did not believe." This is not a small thing. To the modern mind, unbelief is a benign difference of opinion. To God, it is a high-handed insult. It is calling Him a liar. It is looking at His track record of deliverance, His salvation, the parted sea, the drowned Egyptians, and saying, "Not good enough. I don't trust you to handle my next meal."
The human heart is a profound mystery in its capacity for this kind of rebellion. God could perform marvel after marvel, and we would still find a way to doubt Him. It is a deceitful and desperately wicked thing. This is why the solution to our problems is never simply more information or another miracle. The solution must be a new heart, a heart conversion that only the Spirit can bring about through the finished work of Christ. Unbelief is the root sin from which all other sins grow. It is the primal sin of the Garden: "Did God really say?" And God's response to it is fire.
Outrageous Grace (v. 23-25)
Now, in the face of this provoking unbelief, what does God do? He answers their faithless craving with an act of stunning, over-the-top grace.
"Yet He commanded the skies above And opened the doors of heaven; He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them grain from heaven. Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them provision to satisfy." (Psalm 78:23-25)
The word "Yet" is one of the hinges of the gospel. They sinned. "Yet He commanded the skies." He did not have to do this. He would have been perfectly just to let them starve. But instead, He opens the very doors of heaven. This is not a grudging provision. He "rained down" manna. This is language of abundance, of super-abundance. He gives them "grain from heaven" and the "bread of angels." This was not just calories; this was celestial catering.
This is a picture of God's common grace, but it is also a direct foreshadowing of His saving grace. Jesus picks up this exact theme in John 6. The Jews boast that Moses gave them bread from heaven. Jesus corrects them. It was not Moses, but the Father. And the Father is offering a greater bread. "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world... I am the bread of life" (John 6:33, 35). The manna was a type. It sustained physical life for a time, but the people still died. Christ is the true bread who gives eternal life. And just as Israel grumbled about the manna, so too do unbelievers grumble about Christ. They want a king who will fill their bellies, not one who will forgive their sins.
Meat and More Meat (v. 26-28)
But manna was not enough for their lust. They remembered the fish and leeks of Egypt, conveniently forgetting the slavery that came with them. So they demanded meat. And God's response is a terrifying display of provision.
"He led forth the east wind in the heavens And by His strength He guided the south wind. Then He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp, All around His dwelling places." (Genesis 78:26-28)
God is the Lord of the winds. He is sovereign over all creation, and He marshals the forces of nature to accomplish His will. He brings a storm of quail. Again, notice the language of hyperbole. He rained meat "like the dust." The fowl were "like the sand of the seas." This is not a couple of pigeons for the pot. This is a feathered deluge. And where does it land? Right in the middle of the camp, all around their tents. They did not even have to hunt for it. God delivered it right to their doorsteps. They wanted meat, and God gave them meat until they were sick of it.
This is a picture of God giving men over to their desires. It is a form of judgment. When men refuse to be satisfied with God's good provision and demand that their lusts be gratified, sometimes God's judgment is to say, "Alright. You want it? Have it. Have all of it." He gives them exactly what they asked for, in overwhelming abundance, to show them the emptiness and poison of their own cravings.
The Judgment in the Blessing (v. 29-31)
The final verses of our text are chilling. The provision and the judgment arrive together.
"So they ate and were very satisfied, And their desire He brought to them. Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths, The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel." (Psalm 78:29-31)
They got what they wanted. They "ate and were very satisfied." God brought them their desire. But there is a trap in answered prayer when the prayer comes from a heart of lust. The text says they were satisfied, but then it says "Before they had satisfied their desire." This seems contradictory, but it is a profound insight into the nature of sin. Sinful desire is, by its nature, insatiable. You can gorge on it, but you are never truly satisfied. The satisfaction is momentary, but the craving remains and grows.
And the judgment is immediate and terrible. "While their food was in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them." This is a terrifying image. They are in the very act of gratifying their unbelieving lust, and the wrath of God falls. He strikes down their "stoutest ones," their strongest, healthiest men. This is to show that no amount of physical strength can stand against the judgment of God. Their unbelief was a spiritual disease, and it resulted in physical death.
Conclusion: The True Bread
The lesson for us is sharp and clear. God is not mocked. We cannot treat His grace like a vending machine, putting in our demands and expecting blessings to fall out, all while our hearts are far from Him. This passage stands as a permanent warning against the gluttony of unbelief.
The Israelites were judged because they craved the food of Egypt instead of the bread of heaven. They preferred the memory of slavery with full bellies to the freedom of the covenant with God's daily provision. And we are faced with the same choice. The world offers us the quail of Egypt, the immediate gratification of our lusts. It promises satisfaction, but it delivers death. It looks like a feast, but it is poisoned.
God, in Christ, offers us the true Bread from heaven. He offers us Himself. To come to Christ is to admit that our own desires are bankrupt and that only He can satisfy. It is to stop trusting in our own ability to provide for ourselves and to cast ourselves entirely on His salvation. The Israelites did not trust in His salvation, and they perished with the meat of their own choosing still in their mouths.
Let us not make the same mistake. Let us be a people who are not defined by our cravings, but by our gratitude. Let us come to the table that the Lord has prepared for us, not with demands, but with humble faith. For He has not given us mere manna or quail, but He has given us the body and blood of His own Son. This is the only food that satisfies forever, the only provision that does not come with a curse. Let us eat of this true bread, and live.