Snakes on a Pole.

Snakes are not high on most people’s list of beloved animals. (Imagine trying to sell a litter of baby snakes on Craigslist.) Their popularity as pets will never rival that of cats and dogs. They are not affectionate, their babies are not cute—nothing about snakes is attractive. Even non-venomous snakes are widely hated. My dad has said it a million times: “The only good snake is a dead snake.”

Considering the curse of the serpent in Genesis 3, God’s later use of snakes in Numbers 21 seems bizarre. Again (AGAIN?!!) the Hebrews complained about God: “Why have you brought us out here to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water and we detest this wretched food!” They had bitter, ungrateful hearts, and “The Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died” Numbers 21:5-7.

So there was a curse of snakes slithering through the camp of a million Israelites. What did they do? They repented and cried out to Moses. So Moses prayed and God gave him an interesting instruction:

“Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.” So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered” vv.8-9.

What in the world? A snake on a pole? Does that mean anything for us? Yes. Jesus compared Himself to the snake:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:15-16.

What could this bizarre story about real snakes and bronze snakes have to do with Jesus, the Anointed One, the Savior of the World? The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Prince of Peace? Snakes? Are you kidding me?

Here it is in a nutshell:

The Israelites were dying because of their rebellious, sinful hearts. Death came in the form of snakes. But rescue came in the form of a bronze snake raised high on a pole. If the cursed looked—BY FAITH—to that substitute serpent on the pole, they would not die from the bite of the deadly snakes. In the same way, if we who are dying from sin will look—BY FAITH—to our substitute on the pole, to Jesus, then we will not die from the curse of sin. He took the curse for us. He became sin for us—a fate worse than being a snake. As bad as snakes are, Jesus made Himself even lower, by becoming SIN for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Through Moses, God is saying: “Look here, look at this perfect man who has taken the curse of sin and death for you. Look to Him and live!”

Application: Salvation does not require special words. It is not “come into my heart and forgive my sins and save me.” Words are important, of course. And God is listening, and people should express their faith with words. But what God is really looking for is a heart of faith. Are you looking to Jesus alone for your salvation? Do you recognize that you are DYING IN SIN, and that JESUS (the dead man lifted up on a pole—the substitute who died in YOUR place) IS YOUR ONLY HOPE? Look to Him. He is your only salvation.

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Balaam. Numbers 22-24, 31.

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Balaam offered blessings for hire, and unlike the words of others, Balaam’s blessings and curses actually came true.  God had given him a gift.  When Balaam sought the Lord, God told him what to say.  So when Moab’s King Balak hired Balaam, Balaam prayed and God told him not to curse Israel.  But Balak (a descendant of Lot) would not accept that.  So he pushed Balaam, sacrificed seven bulls on seven fires, and God gave Balaam a message.  In the end, Balaam pronounced FOUR lengthy, detailed blessings over Israel (the fourth came after Balak refused to pay for the three curses, since they turned out to be blessings). 

Throughout these events, Balaam acts with integrity, never speaking words other than those given to him by God.  Balaam takes his gift seriously. 

The problem is, Balaam is making money off his gift too and, perhaps to please his customer Balak, Balaam found another way to injure Israel: Balaam convinced Balak’s Moabite women to seduce the men of Israel and invite them to their pagan sacrifices.  This resulted in punishment for Israel and the slaughter of most of the Moabites. 

Balaam was also killed, see Numbers 31:8.  The prophet had a gift and he handled it with integrity.  But he failed to apply the same integrity to other areas of his life and he was killed for it.

God, give us the ‘wholeness’ of integrity.  Teach us to be obedient in ALL of our lives, not just one area.

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ALWAYS … Stay Humble.

Moses’s name indicates he was chosen by God from birth. He was the Deliverer.  A “beautiful” baby. Educated in the ways of Egypt. Trained in the desert 40 years. Saw the burning bush. Defeated Pharaoh with plagues. Worked numerous miracles. Parted the Red Sea. Was given the Ten Commandments. Led Israel in the wilderness. Built the Tabernacle. Spent time with God until his face radiated with such glory, no one could look at him. The only man to whom God showed Himself. Moses brought down the complete law. Wrote the first five books of the Bible. Interceded on behalf of the people and when they sinned against God. (What did Moses NOT do?)

Yet, he was not perfect. During the final years in the wilderness, Moses’s patience wore thin. Once again, the childish people were whining, blaming him for lack of food and water. Moses prayed and God told him “Speak to the rock.” Instead Moses BEAT the rock with his staff:

“And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and STRUCK the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to honor Me in front of the nation, therefore you shall not bring the children of Israel into the land which I have given.” Numbers 20:10-12.

In anger, Moses disobeyed. He did not speak to the rock, he struck it. And his words sound as if he took partial credit for the miracle. (“Must WE bring water for you from this rock?”)

God immediately did two things. He made water gush from the rock, an amazing miracle. He met the nation’s needs.  But then He told Moses he would never enter the Promised Land. He was 120 years old and everything he had ever done was leading to the Promised Land. It was the climax and fulfillment of his whole life!

But God said no. We must stay humble. We must honor God’s holiness: “To whom much is given, much is required” Luke 12:48.

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Surprise! Your Work is a Gift.

As a child, I was sometimes surprised by negative attitudes adults had about work.  First, there were the Garfield cartoons everywhere: “I hate Mondays!”  Then in the lunchroom, there was a calendar on the wall in the serving line and at the end of every day a cafeteria worker would put a huge “X” through the day.  For some reason, seeing a month with three rows of Xs seemed terribly negative to me, as if you killed the days, or burned them, or wrecked them somehow.  I was shocked thinking all the adults around me hated their jobs.

Not everyone agrees.  My friend Dwayne, a fourth-grade teacher, loves Mondays because he loves his students and can’t wait to launch a new week.  There are people who would rather “seize the day” than kill it, who truly value opportunities and challenges. 

There was even a time when I used to say things like “Every morning when my OPPORTUNITY CLOCK goes off, I jump out of bed and….”  It seemed wrong to me that we use the adjective “alarm” to modify the word “clock.” Why is it ALARMING, exactly?  Shouldn’t we be thankful to see another day? Could we be excited for the weeks to come, realizing the amazing lives God has given us? Consider the way God describes work to Aaron:

“I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift” Numbers 18:7.

Do you see work as a gift?  God can help you enjoy all your days and your labor, as promised in Ecclesiastes 5:19. Ask God to give you the gift of enjoying your work, Ecclesiastes 3:13. Give thanks in everything (1 Thess. 5:18), because it all begins with a grateful heart.

God, give us thankful hearts that see work as a GIFT! Help us look forward to mornings and Mondays and to realize every day how blessed we are to have the ability and opportunity to work. Fill us with joy and hope and help us spread that positive, optimistic light to everyone!

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What is That to You?

Jesus told Peter he would be martyred one day, and Peter said, “What about John?”

Jesus answered, “Even if John survives till My return, what is that to you? You follow Me!” John 21:18-22.

Do you get the point? What God asks of one believer has no impact on another believer. “What is that to you?,” means, “What difference does it make?” In other words—stop expecting God to make everything magically fair and equal. Heaven is where things will balance out—not Earth.

God told the Levites their tribe would always eat all the best food: 

“All the best oil, all the best wine, all the best wheat… the firstfruits… have I given thee. And whatever is first ripe in the land … shall be thine” Numbers 18:12-13.

Why did the Levites get the best of everything? Because they were the priests and when Israel’s farmers brought offerings, the offering to God had to be the best of the crops and herds. And those offerings fed the priests of the tribe of Levi and their families. Were Levites better than others? No. It was an “accident of birth” that qualified them to eat the finest of the land. 

Do you know what the Levites did not have? LAND. Eleven tribes had land, but the Levites had none. Personally, I’d rather have land than the finest food. 

You see, God has DIFFERENT plans for each of us. My brother had a great medical career at an early age and saw the world, but he had no wife or kids till 40. One of my friends has made big bucks for years, but has endured crushing personal heartaches. Another of my buddies is now a white-haired,  retired grandfather, and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m gonna’ be when I grow up! LOL. 

SUBMIT to God’s plans. They are NOT the same as His plans for your siblings or friends, but He has a great adventure for YOU! And when He blesses those around you, don’t be jealous. Remember: “What is that to you? You follow me!”

God, we trust you with our future. Lead us each day and help us trust you more!

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The Gift of Work. Numbers 18:7.

People sometimes think God cursed us by making us work. As evidence, they cite Genesis 3:17-19, wherein God tells Adam he will have to work the ground and it will give him thorns and thistles, and “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.”

However, Adam’s work was NOT part of the punishment. Adam had a job BEFORE the sin and the Fall of Man. God gave Adam work so that Adam could be a partner with God in the creative process. Adam was told to name the animals. He probably named plants, too, and took on the task of sorting and understanding them: these are fruits, these are herbs, these are mammals, these are reptiles, etc. I’m sure the work was very creative and fulfilling: part writer, part teacher, part database administrator, part museum curator.

Numbers 18:7 supports this idea. God tells Aaron:

“I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift.”

Our jobs are also gifts. God created you with talents and abilities, and it is deeply fulfilling when you can use those abilities in a positive way. God gives you the talent for a job, then He gives you a chance to do that job. That is so satisfying. Take the time to be grateful for your talents and the chance to use them. Ask God to send you the right work. And make up your mind to enjoy it and be grateful, because your work is a GIFT, not a punishment.

Dear God, give us grateful hearts that want to work and value the work you send us, no matter how humbling. Thank you for the gift of work! Help us to honor you in our work every day. Make us humble enough to scrub toilets. We want to be like Jesus who washed feet. Help us serve you by serving others. Thank you for the GIFT of work. Help us treat it like a gift! We love you.

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Moses: Man of the Wasteland. Deuteronomy 34.

I was raised in a palace by a princess.  Pharaoh was a grandfather to me.  I ate the best foods, studied with the best tutors, owned toys and tools of the highest quality.  I learned the sword and bow from the best.  I spoke multiple languages, and wrote the first five books of the Bible.

I was a man of silk sheets, good food, good books, and oil lamps to read by.  Don’t you agree that a “man of letters,” belongs in a city, sleeping near an open window letting in the desert’s cool night air?

But at 40, I killed an Egyptian and had to run.  For forty years I was a fugitive, reduced to the humble life of a shepherd. At 80, God sent me home.  I thought, “Great!  I will sleep in a bed and eat fish from the Nile.”  But the stay in Egypt was brief.  Soon I was shepherding a million people across the desert.

Still, I knew the Promised Land was coming! This boy from the palace would not die in the desert.  I would die with a roof over my head and a pillow under it!  But then the people doubted God and He sentenced us to wander the desert ANOTHER forty years.  Would I ever see another wheat field?  Or private bathroom? Or the inside of a building?

No.  The books I wrote, I wrote in tents.  I never touched a thing I loved that did not have sand on it.  Even light breezes blow sand into every crevice. How often did I crunch sand in my teeth while eating? God wanted me raised in a life of luxury.  But He did not want me to remain there. 

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward” Hebrews 11:24-26.

Sometimes God calls us away from the soft life.  How many missionaries serve God in difficult, dangerous locations?  Moses did not complain—and he did not enter the Promised Land.  He did not die with a roof over his head. 

But he died with a heart of faithfulness and gratitude toward God.  May we do the same.

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Delays.

God answers every prayer—but often the answer is not yes or no but “wait.” I don’t think anyone likes that answer. Waiting can be SO HARD.

Yet, it seems to be a huge part of our training. How long was Moses’s destiny delayed? At 40, he was moved by the plight of the Israelites, acted rashly and killed an Egyptian, and had to run for his life. Forty years passed before God spoke to him at the burning bush. Forty years! That’s a LONG WAIT. 

A few years later, Moses sent men on a recon mission to spy out the Promised Land and report back. They said the land was amazing but the people were giants and would defeat God’s chosen people.  The nation chickened out, and God was angry. He told them they would spend 40 years wandering the wilderness while the cowardly generation died off. Numbers 14:34.

Can you imagine? What a delay! (Now Moses will have to wait ANOTHER forty years—and in fact, he will see, but never enter the Promised Land.) But God used the delays to grow Moses and all His people and teach them to trust Him.

Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Do you tire of hoping for something big to happen, but it seems hopeless? I know I get tired of waiting. 

But waiting is often the exact spiritual workout that we need. Waiting on the Lord builds our FAITH. Waiting draws us closer to HIM—and knowing him better is more important than entering the Promised Land—or receiving any other promises from God.

Be patient. Seek God’s HEART, not the gifts in his hand. Ask for wisdom and patience. And take the huge step of THANKING him for the waiting times. God has a plan. Choose to trust him and be patient—after all, it probably won’t take 40 years!

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not become faint.” Isaiah 40:31.

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Doubters and Skeptics. Numbers 14:11-12.

Are you a doubter? Do you trust God, or do you question God? The Israelites found it hard to trust God—and Moses. Even after ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, they doubted God.

When God sent spies into the Promised Land, they reported it was a land flowing with milk and honey, but the people were too strong; “we can’t possibly win.” The whole nation wept and said, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt!” God was angry:

“How long will these people not trust in Me despite all the signs I performed among them? I will strike them with a plague and destroy them.” Numbers 14:11-12.

Israel Doubted God dozens of times; here are five:

  1. At the Red Sea.
  2. When they made the golden calf.
  3. After the spies said the men in the Promised Land were so tall “we were as grasshoppers.”
  4. Korah and 250 others told Moses “you have gone too far; what makes you special?” God destroyed those men when the earth opened up and swallowed them.
  5. But the people blamed Moses for those deaths! God then sent a plague and killed 14,700 of the doubters.

Are you a doubter? Do you trust God or do you attack Him with questions that come from a heart of rebellion? That is the key—the state of your heart. We must strive to have obedient, grateful hearts, hearts that recognize God’s goodness and blessings, that are not fighting Him and accusing Him of not being good and kind and loving. Can you submit to God no matter how much it hurts? Do you trust Him with questions you cannot answer? Or do you secretly think He’s holding out on you?

In Job 13:15, Job says of God, “THOUGH HE SLAY ME, YET WILL I PRAISE HIM.” Can you say that?

Dear God, give us hearts that trust you! Show us where we need to surrender our opinions and attitudes to you, and fill us with your truth. Help us to submit ourselves to the authority of your word!

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Supply Chain Management.

Last night the grocery store’s bare shelves held one bag of Pedigree dog food.  It was puppy food and the whole bag would not feed our dogs for one day.  Where were the fifty-pound bags of adult dog food?  Where were they when I shopped on Friday?  And again on Sunday?

This is a supply chain problem.  HEB is waiting for Pedigree to deliver dog food.  Pedigree is suffering a low supply of eggs and other ingredients needed to manufacture dog food.  Completely out of food at home, I bought a bag of Rachael Ray.  It smelled like lima beans but the dogs were excited. 

I did not encounter the phrase “supply chain” until I began teaching in the college of business.  There are courses offered in supply chain management, and professors with doctorates in the field, but for me the phrase (coined in 1982) was a new concept.  It’s simple enough–there is a chain of steps supplying products to the consumer: 

  1. Raw materials
  2. Supplier
  3. Manufacturer
  4. Distributor
  5. Retailer
  6. Consumer.

Problems with a single link in this chain will create supply chain nightmares, leaving consumers without dog food, toilet paper, eggs, medicines, and more.

Israel faced a supply chain problem.  God brought a million people into a wasteland and miraculously provided both food and water, feeding them manna—which they grew tired of.  “There is nothing to look at but this manna!” Numbers 11:6.  They became unruly begging for meat and God said He would send so much meat they would eat until it made them sick. 

But Moses had doubts, pointing out to God the supply chain problem:

“If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” 11:22.    

“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited?  You will see…’” Numbers 11:23.

God sent so much quail the birds were piled three-feet deep.  Everyone gathered quail and “the one who took the least gathered fifty bushels” 11:32.  God does NOT suffer a failure of supply.  There are NO supply chain problems with the Lord. 

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