Daily Devotional · Numbers 21:4–9
Look and Live
Reflection
The people of Israel were worn down by the journey. They spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" They rejected the miraculous manna — the bread of heaven — as miserable food. Then venomous snakes appeared, and many people died. The people came to Moses and confessed: we sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that God will take the snakes away. Moses prayed. And God's instruction was strange. Not: pray harder. Not: perform a sacrifice. Not: remove the snakes. Make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, and anyone bitten who looks at it will live. The remedy was odd — looking at a serpent to be healed of a serpent bite — but it was the instruction. And it worked. The issue was not the mechanics; it was the act of faith: looking up in trust rather than lying down in despair. Jesus quoted this story directly: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life" (John 3:14–15). He is the lifted-up one. Looking to Him — not in our own effort, not in the mechanics of religion, but in trust — is the act that brings life.
Background
The bronze serpent (Nehushtan) was later kept in the temple in Jerusalem — and became an object of worship itself (2 Kings 18:4). King Hezekiah had to destroy it because people were burning incense to it. Even God's instruments of grace can become idols when we fixate on them rather than on what they point to.
Truth
God's remedy for sin and death is always counterintuitive: look up, not in. Striving, self-improvement, and religious performance are all versions of lying in the dust trying to heal yourself. Salvation is a look upward in trust toward the One who was lifted up.
Application
Where are you looking for healing or rescue in your own effort right now? In what area are you trying to heal yourself? Simply look: spend time today meditating on Jesus crucified, lifted up, carrying what you cannot carry. Let the look be enough.