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The Independence Podcast helps everyday people discover that true freedom isn’t found in self-reliance but in total dependence on Jesus Christ. Each episode blends honest conversation, biblical truth, and practical application to help listeners move beyond emotional devotion toward consistent, daily surrender. Whether you’re new in your faith or longing to grow deeper, you’ll find encouragement to trust God fully, live from His grace, and follow Christ with courage in a world that celebrates independence but neglects dependence on the One who truly sets us free.
Bryan Dunham (00:01.474)
What if the miracle you once prayed for becomes the thing you complain about? There's a question that God asks in scripture that cuts straight through our assumptions, our fears and our limitations. And it comes in a moment where both the people of Israel and their leader have started to forget who God is. The question is simple, but it's piercing. Is the Lord's hand too short to save?
And if I'm being honest, that question still confronts me today. Welcome to episode 23 of the Independence podcast, where we discuss and declare true freedom only comes when we are living in dependence on God daily. I am your host, Brian Dunham. And today we are discussing one of the questions God asks in scripture. This week, I am preaching at church on Sunday and then again on the following Friday, which is Good Friday and
With other commitments, I paused the series on the Sermon on the Mount that we're calling Bound for Freedom just due to time constraints as I've done before, because I wrote my first book on the questions God asks. I have a lot of material on that topic and didn't make it.
As I've mentioned before, as I've done before, because I wrote my first book on the questions that God asks in Scripture, I have a lot of material on that topic that didn't make it into the book. And so it doesn't require the same amount of time to record and produce a podcast as a new episode of Bound for Freedom would. So on weeks like this, I typically pivot to that topic, and I'm doing so this week. If you'd like to know more about the questions God asks, please go to my website.
questionsgodask.com. You can also download the first chapter on the website for free if you would like. So the question that we are looking at today finds its context in the book of Numbers chapter 11. Israel has been rescued from slavery in Egypt. God has performed many signs and wonders through Moses, defeated Pharaoh, split the sea, led his people into the wilderness, and now for over a year,
Bryan Dunham (02:16.985)
Every single morning, God provided food from heaven, bread from heaven that was called manna. And this appeared daily at their feet, not in a single moment. And this appeared daily at their feet, not as a request to a single moment of desperation, not weekly, not occasionally, but daily.
And it's actually a beautiful picture of what we're talking about here on this podcast. It was literal daily dependence on God. And God even says that part of the purpose of that daily provision of manna was, and this is Exodus 16, four, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. So the idea, even God is saying the idea of giving them only enough for that day teaches them
to walk in my law and test them to see if they will or not. And of course, they have people that try to capture more than enough for one day. They have some people that forget to gather food for the Sabbath day because he tells them on the sixth day, you're going to gather twice as much because you're not going to do any work on the Sabbath. And so it'll actually keep overnight and you'll be able to eat it. And there were people that didn't do it. They forgot to do it. They didn't obey God and they didn't have food to eat on the Sabbath day. And so
The point here though is this was a miracle happening on repeat over and over again every single day. But over the course of a year, something began to shift. What once was miraculous became normal. What once inspired awe became expected. And then eventually what became expected became resented.
So in Numbers 11, I'm just gonna begin reading there in chapter one, and the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord.
Bryan Dunham (04:38.827)
I'm just going to start reading in Numbers 11 in verse 4. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, that we had meat to eat. They've said this before, right, actually, right after coming out of Egypt, they complained about the fact that they didn't have the types of food that they ate in Egypt. They had pots of meat and they had leeks and they had all these things.
And here again, they're complaining. that we had meat to eat. Verse five, we remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing. The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. So again, this miracle.
of the manna had become completely mundane to them. They longed for Egypt's menu, but had forgotten Egypt's chains. They remembered the taste of the fish, but they forgot the crack of the whip on their back. And that is what distance from a miracle can do. It can distort your memory. And we begin to romanticize the very things that God has delivered us from. We begin to think about
how great it used to be. And if we're not careful, we start resenting the very provision that is sustaining us. A few years ago, if you've been a follower of this podcast, on the very first podcast, the journey of a tryhard, I talked about my story and about, well, four years ago now, I guess it was maybe five, I lost everything financially, like literally everything.
I was afraid that I was going to be homeless. Now I have family in town that certainly would have taken me in, but for a man of my age that had felt like I had everything taken care of financially for the rest of my life to have lost everything was embarrassing. It was defeating. And I was desperately searching for a job. I would have done almost anything not to move myself and my daughter.
Bryan Dunham (07:03.165)
into a family member's house. And so as I was looking for a job, knowing the time was short, my money was running out completely. My house was up for sale. I was hoping that if I could at least sell the house, the money I would make in profit, which wasn't going to be much because it was a fire sale. I needed it to happen quickly and the market was doing poorly. That it would at least give me enough money to live in an apartment for a little while, so could try to get a job and start getting some money through the door.
And I mean, just in the nick of time, I was offered employment by a company that paid a salary plus commission. And the salary was exactly the amount I needed to cover my bills and put food on the table and no more. And I mean it, the exact amount that came through when I tallied everything up, it was like, wow, this actually covers my bills and can put food on the table for Rachel and I.
And that is it. But at the moment, it was an amazing miracle. It was so thankful for that job. I praised God for his provision and it came not a moment too soon. I was so thankful and so grateful. But over time, what initially was this miracle, I began to see as a burden because we were living
paycheck to paycheck. wasn't able to save anything. We were barely scraping by. The times when something might happen with the car or when I had a big expenditure or something I couldn't avoid paying for. There was a time that we had to receive gift cards to HEB to go buy food for a month.
That was a humbling experience as well. And we couldn't do any of the extracurricular activities that we used to do. We couldn't go out to eat. They were just going to the movies. These are things that we used to do all the time. We just couldn't do. And if I were to have a major expense, that was a constant worry on my brain. Like, well, what if this happens? And what if that happens? And literally, any expense above subsistence, really
Bryan Dunham (09:30.103)
wouldn't have been able to meet without a handout. And it began to bother me that I wasn't paid more. And after coming from a place where I could afford really almost anything and was now living in this paycheck to paycheck existence, anger might be a strong word, but it wasn't far from anger. What began to be
low-grade, underneath-the-surface dissatisfaction with the thing that I had originally considered a miraculous miracle. Over time, my perspective on that changed. And that's what's happening here to the nation of Israel. And as Moses hears this complaining, he begins to change as well. So I'm going to read verses 10 through 15.
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, why have you dealt ill with your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people?
Did I give them birth that you should say to me carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give your fathers? Where am I to get meat to give all this people? For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I'm not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. If I find favor in your sight that I may not see.
my wretchedness. Do you hear how Moses has turned inside where God this whole time has been carrying them. It's God that's done all the miracles. It's God that's brought them to where they are. But Moses has somehow began to bear the burden and the weight of everything that has happened because he says, you've laid the burden of all this people on me. And he says to them,
Bryan Dunham (11:51.756)
Where am I supposed to get meat to give all this people? Like, as if this were up to Moses. And then at the end, he's like, if you're going to treat me like this, just kill me now. Like that would be better. So Moses is in a, is a pretty significant poor me moment right here. And he's breaking under the pressure. Now this is the same Moses who stood before Pharaoh.
the same Moses who led the nation through the Red Sea, but here he's overwhelmed and it happens to all of us at different times. And he essentially says, God, I can't carry this. And then in verses 18 through 20, God is speaking to Moses and he says, say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying,
Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall not eat meat just one day or two days or five days or 10 days or 20 days, but a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him saying, why did we come out of?
Egypt. God is now saying, okay, you think it was so much better there in Egypt than it is here. You've forgotten all of the pieces of slavery that are terrible. And you have rose colored glasses looking back in the rear view mirror. How many, how many of us, you and I, how often do we do that? We look back on something that was actually a real struggle. And we forget all of the challenges and pain.
that that life was and we look back on only the things that we would like to have today that we might have had back then but we forget everything else. And that's what's happening here. And so God says, I'm gonna give you so much meat, it's gonna be coming out of your nostrils. You can clearly hear the anger of the Lord here in this situation. And when God says this though, notice Moses' response.
Bryan Dunham (14:16.045)
21, but Moses says, the people among whom I am number 600,000 on foot. And you've said, I'll give them meat that they may eat a whole month. Moses is like, there's over half a million people here and you're telling me that you're going to give them enough meat where they can eat an entire month. So Moses says, shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them and be enough or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them and be enough for them?
So Moses is like, wait a minute, you're gonna give meat for a month to all these people, hundreds of thousands of people? And Moses does the math and the math doesn't work. How is this going to happen? And Moses is now questioning God's ability. And that's when God responds, not with an explanation, but with the question, is the Lord's?
hand too short to save. We talked about the manna being the miracle that has become mundane for the Israelite people, but Moses now has seemed to have forgotten all of the ways that God has delivered them and brought them through. In other words, God is saying here, do you really think I've lost my power?
Have you placed some imagined limitations on my ability? Do you really think that what you're facing is beyond my reach? Moses met God at the burning bush. He'd seen the plagues. He split the sea. He'd seen the manna fall. He'd seen God's presence in the fire and the cloud. But in this moment, his faith shrank in the face of what he perceived to be impossible math. And before we judge him too quickly,
Don't you and I do the same thing? We all face situations where the numbers don't add up. Finances don't make sense. Relationships feel too far gone. The future looks uncertain. And we begin to ask, how could God possibly provide? But the question reveals something deeper because what we're really asking is, is the Lord's hand too short to save? And the answer throughout all of scripture is no.
Bryan Dunham (16:43.175)
No, God's power has never been measured by human limits. If you can see exactly how it's all going to work, then you don't need God to do it. And your dreams are probably too small. When God is in it, the math doesn't matter. The same God who led Israel in the wilderness is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. The same power that made a way through the sea is the same power that made a way through the grave.
and that power is not diminished. It has not weakened. It is not shortened even today. So here's the question. Where in your life have you quietly concluded God can't? Where have you looked at the situation, run the numbers, and decided that's impossible? Because God's question still stands.
Is my hand too short to save? Or have you just started measuring God's ability by your circumstances? What if the very thing you see as a barrier is actually a platform for God to display His power? His hand is not shortened, His power is not limited, and His promises are still sure.
If you found this quick episode helpful, please share with a friend and follow the show. You can check out more Questions God Asked in my book of that same name available anywhere you buy books or on questionsgodasks.com. Until next week, grace and peace, my friends.