Numbers 21:4-9. NKJV
Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.
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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore 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.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Keep your eyes where you\’re going not what you\’re going through. Now the children of Israel were going through some hectic journey to get through to the promised land and they were faced with all manner of tough challenges including war thorn times, and each time they called upon the God Almighty who brought them out of the oppression of a terrible ruler to the point where they were. God has always heard them whenever they called unto Him in repentance and granted them victory.
Suddenly, they forgot to reverence God and decided not to call open God due to circumstances beyond them, they wavered on their faith in God and refused to recollect or reflect on the past events where God manifested His powers to help them out of their troubles.
Just before they set out to hit the road leading to Red Sea, they just came out of war with the Canaanites and the king of Arad took some of them into prison but the moment the Israelites called upon God to grant them victory over Canaanites. God heard them and caused them to completely destroyed their enemies and they emerged victorious. (Numbers 21:1-3).
What do you look at when faced with challenges. Where is your focus at the point of troubulent moments, do you talk like Job\’s wife when she looked at her husband in his time of grief and said \”Curse God AND Die\” Yeah!! Everytime we are faced with challenges we tend to forget where we are coming from and become jeterry of where we are going forgotten where we have been.
The problem with the people of Israel as we may deduce from our bible reading through their movement to the promised land can be as a result (a) They have unfaithful spirit in following God. (b) They refuse to obey the Laws of God. (c) They easily forgot the past events and the miracles God performed for them which brought victories to them (d) They were deep into the sin of complaints and ingratitude. (e) Impatient with God\’s timing. (f) Not having respect to their leaders or a constituent Authority.
The source of our complains attimes get its root cause from one or some of the points raised above whenever we are not satisfied with what God has done for us or when we are facing some challenges.
\”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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.” (Numbers 21:5) How About That!! Can you imagine the people complaint about the Heavenly bread (Manna) which they had depended upon for sustainance all through the journey so far in the Wilderness. They forgot numerous miracles and the wonders of the Lord and lose focus of the promised of God to them
Their thoughtless actions and bad attitude caused God to do an unusual thing by using a poisonous snake to punished them. Yes God is Merciful Yet He is A Consuming Fire. But in His Mercies when the people cried to Moses to beg God to forgive them of their sins and Moses cried to God to temper Mercy with Justice. God heard and instructed Moses on what to do to get the people out of their mess.
Then the Lord told Moses to make a replica of the poisonous snake and attached it to the pole so that all that are bitten by the snake when they look at the bronzen snake on the pole they shall live. Numbers 21:8.
In John 3:14-15 says
[14]And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
[15]That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Look, you shall live and not die. Jesus says \”Whosoever Believed in Him Shall Not Perish But Have Eternal life\” If you believe in that always look up to Him when things get Tough and Rough. When as though you have done all to Stand yet it looks as if nothing has been done, as though your efforts were wrongly channeled never mind there\’s always a silver lining at the end of the dark tunnel.
Stop Complaining for it is a discouragement tool that devil uses to get your eyes of the bigger picture. Refuse to quit, hang on there. My pastor will always say DO NOT GIVE UP UNTIL YOU WIN. Learn to trust God and Believe in His word. Learn to be self discipline because if you are disciplined you will have an emotional balance. You will protect your emotions when situations gets out of hand and events begin to turn against what you desire be patient and prayerfully wait for God\’s Divine Mercy. Learn to be Spiritually intelligent so that your spirit will sustain you in time of affliction, you don\’t need to run helter scatter seeking for solution where solution does not exist rather you mess yourself up the more.
Always Reflect And Recollect God\’s Blessings And Miracles of the Past whenever you are going through Challenges and Appreciate Him for all His Goodness And Mercies, Then you pray for The present Situation and Remind Him Of His Promises According To His Words,then watch Him Perfect All His Words for He Is Not A Man That Can Lie.
Remain Blessed For Reading. Thanks.
✍️Mrs Blessing I N Onugha ❤️