March 14: One Simple Thing
Read: Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against 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.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 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.
When I taught high school Bible, I had a student who did not finish a test during class. She asked if she could come after school to complete it and we made arrangements for her to do that. I was frustrated that she never came as she had agreed and, in fact, had gone to an afterschool club instead. I graded her test as it was and put the grade into the computer. I planned, if she would come to me and explain what had happened, to let her finish the test. She never did.
Several weeks later, at a conference with her parents, I told her that despite her low grade in my class, if she would come and talk with me, we could work out a way for her to bring it up. She never did. She only needed to do one simple thing, and she could have improved her grade. Instead she just stayed mad at me.
Reading the passage in Numbers 21 this morning, I was reminded of that girl. The Israelites had escaped Egypt and were in the wilderness. As they moved on from Mt. Hor after the death of Aaron, they become impatient and grumbled (again!) against Moses and God. “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.”
God, who provided everything the people needed; who lovingly responded to them when they called upon him in faith, did not respond so well to their ungrateful complaints. He sent fiery serpents into their camp. Anyone who was bit by a serpent would die unless he looked at the bronze snake God instructed Moses to set on a pole.
You might wonder how this would remind me of that girl. I gave her one easy way to avoid failure: Come talk to me. And yet she didn’t, and her grade reflected that. God gave the people one instruction for how to survive that snake bite – one simple thing they had to do – look at the bronze serpent and live.
We don’t know how many people refused to look at the bronze snake. We don’t know how many people perished that day. Maybe some thought they would finish what they were working on the then look. Maybe some thought they were tired and would do it after a rest. There were probably some who didn’t think the bronze serpent could save them. They may have gone to a doctor or sought out a priest to pray for them. Or perhaps they just didn’t believe God would kill them.
When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, Jesus told him what was needed to be born again; to eternal life. He said, 14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus tells Nicodemus, eternal life is found only by believing in the one who is lifted up. It comes by faith in Jesus who would be lifted up on a pole, a cross, for the sins of the world.
There are those who hear the message of Jesus; his perfect life; his undeserved death; his resurrection; the need for us to believe in him to be forgiven and have eternal life; and they say, “One day, just not right now. I don’t want to change.” Others say, “let me get my life right first. Jesus couldn’t accept me.” Others don’t think they’re that bad. And others just refuse to believe.
Paul makes it clear in the passage from Ephesians 2 that we all are by nature objects of God wrath. We willingly sin and deserve God’s punishment. There is only one way to experience God’s hope and forgiveness and eternal life. Look at the one lifted up. Look to Jesus. Believe. As Paul writes, 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Sometimes I think of my student and her unwillingness to simply come talk to me. I pray that she hasn’t taken that stubborn attitude with Jesus, refusing to come to him on his terms.
This week, as we are on mission together, there are several suggestions for ways to connect with a person who is not yet a follower of Jesus. Pray for open hearts; for God’s Spirit to move even before you talk to the person. Pray for a willingness for whoever you might share Jesus with to willingly surrender and look to the only one who can bring what our hearts desire most deeply.
Questions for Reflection
Are there any clear teachings in God’s Word you struggle to obey? Any areas you prefer to do it your own way or find yourself putting off until later?
Who is someone in your life you have been witnessing to or have a desire to share Jesus with? Have they heard the gospel already? What might be holding them back from believing? Talk to God about it!
Pray for opportunities to be “on mission” this week!
Readings for this week:
March 15: Exodus 15:22-27; Hebrews 3:1-6
March 16: Numbers 20:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13
March 17: Isaiah 60:15-22; John 8:12-20
March 18: Isaiah 30:15-18; Hebrews 4:1-13
March 19: Exodus 30:1-10; Hebrews 4:14-5:4
March 20: Habakkuk 3:2-13; John 12:1-11
March 21: Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:12-33