And the Snakes Remain

As I walked to work this morning, I was listening to Numbers. The highlight of what I heard, was the story of the venomous snakes. It is set towards the end of the 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Israelites had grumbled, complained, and rebelled repeatedly since God had delivered them out of slavery. On the other occasions that they grumbled about food or water, God provided what they were asking for. This time, however, the Israelites had taken it too far. So God sent venomous snakes among them as a punishment. When they realized they had sinned, they prayed that God take the snakes away. Instead, God had Moses make a bronze snake and put it on a pole so that when anyone was bitten, they could look up at the snake and they would be healed and not die (Thus the medical symbol for healing--snake on a pole).

What strikes me most is the snakes (pun intended). Why didn't God take them away like they asked. Wouldn't it have been much simpler to remove the snakes instead of having to cure the people as they continued to get bitten.

But as I look at the history of God's relationship with people, it becomes obvious that it was necessary to let the snakes remain. Anytime life is easy, the Israelites forget their dependence on God. When they have all they need, they forget that they would starve without God's providence. And without tangible reminders of their sin, they would forget that they require God's healing and forgiveness.

I hope we can always be thankful for God's providence, forgiveness and healing without the aid of snakes.