How should you deal with cravings? Cravings can tell us more about what we need than we realize...

 In the Torah portion for this week “Beha'alotecha ("When you set up"…) We see much detail about consecration, ordination, and establishing order. However in one moment, the story takes a turn and reveals how the Israelites began to defile themselves! It is such a jarring shift that the parasha never fully recovers! What Happened?!!

Numbers 11:1-6 ESV

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 burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 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.”

The children of Israel, by accepting the external thoughts of the "rabble" as their own, allowed themselves to lose focus of what they really had. This is no different than how the adversary whispers accusations, lies, and half-truths and plant them as our own thoughts. The Israelites and their cravings were whipped into a frenzy by their emotions causing discontentment, greed, and bitterness to take fester. This angered Yah, and while all of this seemed to be about food, It was about their relationship with Yah.

Cravings usually tell us more about what we need than about what we want. For example, did you know that if you're craving chocolate you may needing magnesium? Or if you just really need to chew on ice, you may be low on iron. As crazy as it sounds cravings are intended to alert to what we really need. See more here Cravings Chart.

When we loose focus and are no longer satisfied with Yah, we crave the things we don't need. Yah was to be their source, yet rather than delighting in Him and being satisfied in Him, they longed for what they had in Egypt.