Slices
Prepare
Psalm 19:12 asks, ‘Forgive my hidden faults.’ Are there things you prefer to hide that need to be brought to God today? Or things hidden from yourself that he needs to expose?
Bible passage
Arad destroyed
21 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: ‘If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.’ 3 The Lord listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.
The bronze snake
4 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘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!’
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
Explore
We find it painful to re-visit our failures. We’d prefer to forget them and move on. But God’s treatment of failure is more thorough.
The plague of snakes is a consequence of Israel’s failure to trust God. This is expressed as impatience and grumbling (vs 4,5). When they do acknowledge their sin, they simply want God to get rid of the venomous creatures (v 7). But the snake that represents their failure is also the focus of God’s healing and forgiveness (v 9). This may seem paradoxical: in order to be healed they have to look at the very thing that reminds them of their failure. God does not sweep sin under the carpet. He deals with it head on.
For us, the cross of Jesus represents both the deep shame of our failure and the means of our healing and forgiveness. As Jesus says to Nicodemus, ‘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 in him’ (John 3:14).
Respond
Paul encourages us to ‘consider … the kindness and sternness of God’ (Romans 11:22). Is there a failure that you need to face up to? Facing it with God, despite the shame, leads to healing and forgiveness. You will discover both God’s holiness and his grace.
Deeper Bible study
Reflect on your faith journey in the light of Paul’s words: ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’1
The moment was bittersweet. Nearly forty years before, right there at Hormah, the Israelites’ presumptuousness had resulted in defeat at the hands of the Canaanites.2 This time round, firmly resolved to honour God and fuelled by prayerful dependence on him, God’s people savour victory (vs 2,3) of the ‘first-fruits’ variety, a pledge of the future conquest. Nevertheless, it’s possible to win battles but lose the war! God has chosen to lead his people the long way to their destination. We see that dependence on him is replaced by impatience; battle cries turn into blasphemies (vs 4,5).
Gary Helm says this about the life of a civil-war soldier: ‘Only a tiny fraction of any soldier’s time was spent in front-line combat. Instead, the vast majority of his existence revolved around the monotonous routines of camp life, which presented its own set of struggles and hardships.’3 Despite standing firm in the big battle, God’s people succumb to the pressures of relatively minor matters related to route, terrain and diet (vs 4,5) – with deadly consequences (v 6). Do you find it easier to stay strong for one big battle rather than endure a series of smaller difficulties, disruptions or discomforts over a prolonged period? What irritations or ongoing aggravations tend to wear you down emotionally or spiritually? The upbeat tempo of ‘Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war’ requires tempering by the sobering reminder of ‘the cross of Jesus going on before’.4 The call to take up our cross is a call to daily, disciplined discipleship. Such discipleship is not fuelled by a series of adrenaline rushes but requires persistent pressing on. So often, the Christian life is not a brisk march but a patient plod.
Affirm, with Paul, ‘Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.’5
1 Phil 3:12 2 Num 14:44,45 3 www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/life-civil-war-soldier-camp 4 Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834–1924 5 Phil 3:13,14
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 7,8; Colossians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Mark Green who heads up the Digital Solutions team and for the team as they work together to ensure that we are making the best use of technology to enhance our mission delivery and maximise efficiency in the use of our resources.
