Blessing in Disguise
“In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.”
Numbers 21:6
After God had led the Israelites out of Egypt, freeing them from slavery, they complained because of the lack of choice in food and drink. Perhaps they just didn’t want to be wandering around and they thought maybe if the Lord had come to rescue them shouldn’t things be easier? And so, they complained and questioned God’s motive and intentions, asking God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” Instead of being grateful the God for sending Moses and Aaron to liberate them from their slavish life in Egypt, they resented Him. They even wished they were back in Egypt! This may sound absurd to us. Why would someone who was once a slave, now freed, want to go back into slavery? It doesn’t make sense, but we’d be surprised how often we might even do this ourselves.
When we come face to face with a bad habit or habitual sin and after much prayer received the grace to work towards being free from it, and when the temptation or trigger comes and we fall for it, bringing ourselves back into that negative cycle of sin. Have you ever experienced that? The Israelites did not want to work for their freedom, and they’d rather be slaves and enjoy some sort of comfort — food, drink, seeming stability — than to live in the freedom as the people of God. And so, what does God do? The Lord sent serpents that bit the people causing them to die. At face value it seems as if God was punishing them out of spite, but that’s not really the case. What were the Israelites really complaining about? That God was not taking care of them. So, to show them what life would really be like without God’s care and providence, He withheld His care. Without God’s protection, snakes attacked the people and they died. Without God there can be no life, only death. Sometimes we may not see the blessings that are there because of our own pride or self-preoccupations. When we think God isn’t there, He really is there, but He may be silent, but His protecting hand is always upon us, otherwise we won’t be here.
When the Israelites repented, God offered them a remedy: mounting a serpent on a pole and raising it up (the modern symbol for medicine!) so that all who looked upon it will be saved. And in the fullness of time, God sent His only Son to be mounted on the wood of the Cross and He was raised up, and we who look upon the Cross with our crucified Lord is saved. God doesn’t promise us an easy life, perhaps what the Israelites were hoping for, but He does promise us eternal life, so much so that He became man, assuming our human nature, so that we might be saved and one day may enjoy the glory of heaven. How blessed are we?
