Devotional -

Lift Up Your Eyes ( 11 May )

About this Devotional
On the way the people lost their patience and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!" Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Now pray to the Lord to take these snakes away." So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.
Numbers 21:4-9 The people asked Moses to pray that the snakes would be taken away, but God did not remove the snakes. Instead he made a way of healing for those who had been bitten. I think if I had been there, I would have felt a lot safer if those snakes had been removed, but God left the snakes so that the peoplewould have to turn to him. Many times, when I experience a trial-maybe someone who irritates me and makes me impatient-the "easy thing," in my mind, is to pray that I will not have contact with that person. But God's way is often to teach me love and patience through that person.

I recently broke my arm. The trial of going through months of therapy hasn't been easy, and I often wish that it would heal faster, but God's method of leaving this trial has caused me to depend more on him and to learn discipline, perseverance, and compassion for others in pain. I've had to look to him in the trial.It has been so sweet to draw closer to him as a result of the pain.

The people of Israel had been grumbling against God, so he created a situation where they had to turn to him or die. When we encounter difficulties, we can grumble and become bitter, questioning God's love, or we can look to him and receive our healing. His healing is always available. The best perspective we can have is not inward or outward, but upward.

"As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." (John 3: 14-16)

God does not always take away the test from our lives, but he always requires us to look to him to be saved and healed. We will always be confronted with sin and temptation in this world. The question is: Will we take our eyes off of the problem and look at him for the solution and healing?

- 11 MAY -