WEDNESDAY 7th
Numbers 21:4-9
NIV (v9) – ‘So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.’
ESV (v9) – ‘So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.’
By the time we get to this point in the book of Numbers, both Miriam and Aaron have died (Miriam 20:1, Aaron 20:28) and the people of Israel had become a little on the miserable and grumpy side. They started to complain to Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ Somehow they had seemed to have forgotten that it was the LORD himself who had brought them up out of Egypt, they seemed to have not realised it was their own fault that they were still in the wilderness going around in circles, they complained about the servant of God, Moses, who was still God’s man for the moment and to top it all they were complaining about the manna which was one of God’s provisions for them, calling it ‘worthless food’! Imagine how poor old Moses must have felt, but then imagine how must God have felt, despite all he had done for them they were so ungrateful. As a result, we find that God caused venomous snakes to appear among them and if the people were bitten, they would die. To be honest at this point, you would have thought the people of Israel would have learned their lesson and quit their complaining, for it is only a few chapters earlier that we read that God had caused a plague to come among them because of their ongoing rebellion (see chapter 16 which closes by telling us that 14,700 died as a result of the plague). The trouble is old habits die hard, and once you start on a road of complaining or grumbling or murmuring, the further down the road you go the easier it is to continue doing it, and some people can be just like that, always complaining, nothing is ever right, or nothing is ever done in the right way, whoever’s job it is to do something, they could have done it better etc. Poor old Moses, but God steps in to deal with the problem. And because of the fiery snakes they repent saying ‘we have sinned against the LORD and against you’ and the Lord instructs Moses as what to do. We will consider the remedy tomorrow. To close today, may we constantly check our hearts and our attitude so that we will always be right before God and toward one another. Remembering we are all on a journey, we will all make mistakes or perhaps do something a little bit differently, but what matters is that who we are and what we are doing is always beneficial to the whole in moving us forward in God’s plan and purpose for us as people of God in Gateshead. There is a place for and a proper way to deal with issues or matters of differences, but it is not through murmuring, grumbling or complaining, may we always seek to deal with anything in a good manner, in a godly way.
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul refers back to our text for today, saying that this along with other lessons from the people of Israel has been recorded for our instruction, so that we take heed that we do not fall – ‘We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.’ (vv9-12)
‘Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labour in vain.’ Philippians 2:12-16