“4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.
7 The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that He will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover. “9 So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.”
Numbers 21:4-9
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Even with the patience of Job, Moses would still have a lot to put up with in dealing with his people. This just goes to show that in our sinful, sorry state, we can even tire of the daily miraculous provision of God. Manna, bread from heaven, readily at hand and tasting sweet like honey, provided with no effort or work has become ‘this wretched food’ in the sight of the Israelites, and the quail given to the camp, without need for hunting, has become a nuisance. Their constant comments, their lack of gratitude and their undying, unrelenting refusal to be content with the provision and care of God has become more than dissatisfaction based on repetition, but instead it has become an insult.

Given nothing to complain about, people will often find something to complain about. We are good at it, talented even, and the Israelites are no exception. They were converts to nomadism and even though Abraham never had a set home, they had grown accustomed to sedentary living in Egypt. They didn’t like wandering. They didn’t like what they interpreted to be ‘uncertainty’ but we would call it a lack of trust in God. They were missing the whole point of being led, personally, by God rather than just told to move north into Canaan on their own after the Exodus. They were missing the point of learning to rely on the provision of God. They were missing the point of learning to listen to His voice and obey. They were missing the point of being good examples to their children. They were missing the point of being separate from other peoples and their pagan/heathen beliefs. They were missing the point of pretty much everything God was trying to teach them. The were a stiff necked, unruly people, and so they received in their own bodies the due punishment for their sins.

And snakes were sent into the camp. Snakes with fangs. Snakes with venom. Physical illustrations for the toxins of their grumbling, biting, poisonous hearts. And when they asked Moses to pray to God to take away the snakes, God took away the punishment of the venom but not the bites or the snakes. The bronze serpent, pointing toward Christ, removed death from the punishment, but it did not remove the pain of the bite or the presence of the snakes. John 3:14-15 says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.” Jesus’ sacrifice took away the sting of death, but it did not remove sin, not yet. And where the Israelites still had to be wary of those looming bites, cautious of where they put their foot or rested their hand, they did not need to fear the results of the bite. As Christians, we still need to be wary of where we go and what we do, and we need to try really hard to avoid being bitten by sin, but we have confidence that when we do get bitten by our own sin, that we can look to Christ for healing, just as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent.

Our daily testimony should do the same as we GoLove others for the sake of Christ. Our hurts and pains, lifted up to Christ, in a very transparent way are signs of the goodness and love and mercy of God at work in us, in our ‘camp.’ Our refusal to hang out with the snakes, and to live life differently than those who are constantly being bitten, will stand as a marker to them, and point them toward where we find our hope and instruction. We may not be finished being bitten, but we can at least point people toward the cure for the venom. Only by living in obedience to God and walking in the way of Christ can we learn to avoid the bites and dens of the snakes of sin, but until the day when He removes them all, we have hope that He will continue to restore and renew us according to His great love. We should never grow complacent to the bites, but rather seek the snake free paths. It’s what makes sense, and what will help us serve as effective witnesses in the Name of Christ. It all begins with the attitudes that we choose to adopt in our hearts, and the saving work of Christ in us.