“And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. “( Numbers 21:8, KJV)
The Israelites had just sinned by murmuring against God. The journey was hard and their souls were discouraged. In their discouraged state, they preferred to take solace in their memories of Egypt. They preferred their hard servitude to the Egyptians because they had cucumbers and onions to eat then, coupled with water to drink. In the wilderness, they had nothing but Manna, which they disliked because it didn’t satisfy their cravings.
Their ungrateful and doubtful state incurred God’s wrath upon them.
Just because the journey got tough, they chose to have remained in slavery. They had forgotten how God wondrously delivered them and how he had brought them closer to the promised land. Their ungrateful and doubtful state incurred God’s wrath upon them. God needed his people to experience the bitterness associated with desire for slavery.
They had no idea of the thousands of serpents God shielded them from when they travelled in the wilderness. However, their desires brought the serpents in their numbers to afflict them. The serpents unleased terror mercilessly on the Israelites and compelled them to seek for solution.
God’s love for his people, when they repented, made a route of escape for them. He didn’t take away the serpent, rather he commanded Moses to mould a serpent of bronze as a signet for deliverance. Anyone bitten by the serpent just needed to gaze on the bronzen serpent for cure. The instruction was explicit – Look and live.
Now these serpents are vicious and their venoms inflicted severe pains and would have wreaked great havocs in the body of its victim. If such victim chooses to nurse their wounds or wreathe in pains from the affliction, death is certain. But if a victim will decide to ignore the associated pains and agony that comes with the sting, and decide to look in obedience to God’s command ,such will live.
Bringing the lessons learnt from this story to our contemporary world, we all know everyone has their struggles and problems to deal with. Narrowing it down to Christendom, Christians too have life challenges, and from the Israelites, we have learnt that sometimes, we bring these problems upon ourselves when we choose to prefer the glitters of the past life in times when God prunes us for much fruitfulness.
This is to make us know that sometimes , we are responsible for the sufferings we experience.
The Israelites did not understand that the toughness of the journey wasn’t made to discourage them but to make them stronger to conquer more lands. Likewise it is for us. The seasons of pruning aren’t meant to break us or make us desire our past; They are the seasons for growth and fruitfulness.
Some of us, like the Israelites ,have resorted to murmuring , either directly or indirectly. And like they incurred suffering upon themselves, we might have incurred thesame on ourselves. This is to make us know that sometimes, we are responsible for the sufferings we experience.
However, it doesn’t end there. The good news is that Jesus Christ has been raised up for us and the strategy to be cured remains thesame— Look and Live.
The longer you ponder on your mistakes, the more potent the serpent’s venom gets to torment you more
While God may not take away the serpents, you shouldn’t be distracted by their presence; All you need to do is to fix your gaze on Jesus to be perfectly cured. Are you tending the wounds inflicted from the wrong decisions you’ve made or wrong actions you have taken? The longer you ponder on your mistakes, the more potent the serpent’s venom gets to torment you more.
Regardless what has happened or is happening, as long as your gaze and mine remain fixed on Jesus, the dearth of death can do us no harm. To keep living is to keep looking unto Jesus; That is the only antidote to the venom of the serpent of this world.
God bless you.