I was reading in the book of Numbers the other day, the account of the children of Israel and of the plague of fiery serpents that the Lord sent into their midst. If you are familiar with the story, you will remember that God sent fiery serpents as a discipline for their faithlessness. Numbers records that the children of Israel were placed in a position (AGAIN) to trust God, in regards to Him being the One who would take care of them. Moses asked the king of Edom if he, and the children of Israel, could go through his land. Moses told the king that he and the people would not be taking anything from him or the land; they were just going to walk through it. The king said, no, and so Moses and the people had to go back into the wilderness and walk a long distance around the land of Edom. The Bible records that they had to go by way of the Red Sea.....again! The place of their past failure.....their sin of faithlessness. When the people found this out, they began to murmur and complain about God and His care for them. Once again, God was orchestrating the lives of the people, and they became afraid; and therefore, they turned again to unbelief and distrust of God and His ways. And so, because God loved them, He sent a discipline into their lives, one that actually killed some of them.
The fiery serpents were sent to bite the people, and yes, I believe that they were real snakes! When the children of Israel felt the bite of the snakes, they then perished. I am sure that as they lay writhing in pain, and breathing their last, that they truly regretted their distrust of God, but it was too late. And please note that they didn't only distrust God, they also attributed something to Him that was so untrue; and that is, that He had brought them into the wilderness to destroy them. They believed the lie, instead of the truth, which was that God was setting them free from the slavery of Egypt. In essence they attributed to God what Satan wants to do in our lives.......destroy us!! Therefore I see the loving hand of God in His discipline, for I know the sting of the bite of my disobedience and faithlessness!! Just like the children of Israel, I too, so often, go astray. I too, attribute to God what the devil is.....a liar and a murderer, and I am ashamed to admit how often I do this!! Let me just say that I am so thankful for God's grace and mercy!!
What we read next, is that the people of Israel went to Moses to appeal to him too talk to God on their behalf. They admitted their sin, and asked Moses to ask the Lord to take away the serpents. What occurs next has always been a puzzle to me, still not sure of all that it means. God tells Moses to make a replica of the serpent out of bronze, and then he was to place it on a pole. God then told Moses to tell the people that when they were bitten by the real serpents, if they looked toward the replica, they would be healed. Isn't that such a strange thing to do? And yet, Moses obeyed and made the bronze serpent, and put it on a pole. Moses obeyed God and told the people of God to do a very strange thing.....look to the bronze serpent if they were bit, and they would live.
As I was reading this, God spoke to my heart that I too, like Israel, am so quick to distrust Him and His motives. I so often am tempted to want my own way, and when God doesn't agree with me, I feel that He has abandoned me. Have you ever felt like God was putting you back into the same places that you thought that you had been brought from? I do not think that the mention of the Red Sea in this account was just by chance. I saw that God was giving the children of Israel another opportunity to respond in trust and obedience to Him! In His grace and mercy He was taking them to the place where they had mistrusted Him in the past, and giving them a chance to do it right this time! I also saw that the children of Israel had to look on their judgement (the bronze serpent) to be set free, to be healed! Isn't that the same for us? We need to recognize, to look on, our waywardness and lack of faith and see it for what it truly is.....sin. I, we need to really see that our disobedience will destroy us, and then in trust, turn to the Lord in obedience and do what He has asked; even if it seems strange or frightening. As the children of Israel looked to the replica of the judgement of God, we too look to the cross of Jesus that has set us free. For isn't the cross just that? A symbol of God's righteous judgement on mankind? Jesus paid the cost of my waywardness and sin, He took on His body the justice of God.....for me! Because of His great love for His people, God provided a way for them to be saved from the death of the serpent's bite. Because of His great love for me, God provided a way for me to be saved from the sting of death; for Jesus saved me from my sin, and of living a worthless life. And so, as I live my life, I am to turn and look to the symbol of judgement....the cross, when I sin and fall and repent.....and in doing so......I will live!
