These Israelites were wandering in the wilderness; they were without
natural supplies for their daily necessities; they had a long hard
journey before them, an unknown road, at the terminus of which was a
land where they should rest. We have precisely the same necessities as
those which Moses despairingly said that they had.
Like them, we wander hungry, and need a Leader who can satisfy our
desires and evermore give us bread for our souls even more than for our
bodies. We need One to whom we can 'weep,' as the Israelites did to
Moses, and not weep in vain. We need One who can do for us what Moses
felt that the Israelites needed, and that he could not give them, when
he almost indignantly put to God the despairing question, 'Can I carry
them in my bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child?' Our
weakness, our ignorance, our heart-hunger, cry out for One who can
'bear all this people alone.' who in his single Self has resources of
strength, wisdom, and sufficiency to meet not only the wants of one
soul but those of the world. For He who can satisfy the poorest single
soul must be able to satisfy all men.