The danger of distrust, the riches of repentance, and the challenge of choice–all wrapped up in a few verses in Numbers 21:4-9.<\/p>\n
They traveled from Mount Hor\u00a0along the route to the Red Sea,\u00a0to go around Edom.\u00a0But the people grew impatient on the way;\u00a0they spoke against God\u00a0and against Moses, and said, \u201cWhy have you brought us up out of Egypt\u00a0to die in the wilderness?\u00a0There is no bread! There is no water!\u00a0And we detest this miserable food!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Let’s remember what has already happened before now. Israel recently defeated the Canaanite people. Before that, God \u00a0provided water from a rock to supply the need of the nation. There have been multiple occurrences of the Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die<\/em> that have never ended well for the complainers. Stubborn hearts continue despite miracles like the parting of the sea and before that the plagues of Egypt that set them free.<\/p>\n
Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0sent venomous snakes\u00a0among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.\u00a0The people came to Moses\u00a0and said, \u201cWe sinned\u00a0when we spoke against the\u00a0Lord and against you. Pray that the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will take the snakes away from us.\u201d So Moses prayed\u00a0for the people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It seems blessing does not get this people’s attention and impatience is the rule but when real danger comes with it comes moments of clarity. Repentance, honestly admitting the error and choosing to turn from that way, was necessary in this case as in all others were there is sin.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Moses, \u201cMake a snake and put it up on a pole;anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.\u201d\u00a0So Moses made a bronze snake\u00a0and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God gave an interesting answer to prayer. God did not take away the snakes. People continued to be bitten. Their lives continued to be in peril. God provided an antidote. Every time bitten a person must look at the bronze snake to live.<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ echoes this concept in John 16:33 when he says<\/p>\n
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.\u00a0In this world you will have trouble.\u00a0But take heart! I have overcome\u00a0the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This world is not trouble free. There are dangers. Many of those dangers will pile upon ourselves and many those around us and our ancestors have piled upon us. God is not going to give us a pain-free life. He provides a life we can endure and where we can thrive but only via constant renewal from Him. Again we hear this sentiment in John 15:5-6<\/p>\n
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;\u00a0apart from me you can do nothing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We are made to depend on God. Our daily, even momentary choice, is to trust that He is willing and able not only to see Himself glorified, which is right and good, but that he also cares for his servants. Remember, God did not ask for an elaborate ritual to cure snakebite–this is not a big performance, perfection thing. God asked us to look to him again and again, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. This is the cure for distrust and a great source of joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The danger of distrust, the riches of repentance, and the challenge of choice–all wrapped up in a few verses in Numbers 21:4-9. They traveled from Mount Hor\u00a0along the route to the Red Sea,\u00a0to go around Edom.\u00a0But the people grew impatient on the way;\u00a0they spoke against God\u00a0and against Moses, and said, \u201cWhy have you brought us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}