Look Up
7 The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (Numbers 21:7-9)
During the forty years that the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness, they frequently became impatient with God and with Moses. In the midst of one cacophony of complaints God sent poisonous serpents which bit, and killed, some of the people. Temporarily distracted from their boredom with the menu options, the frightened people begged Moses to pray that God would take away the serpents. Moses did intercede for the people, but rather than take away the serpents or even stop them from biting, God had Moses create an image of a serpent. The people were instructed to look up to this bronze statue in order to not die from the bites.
What!? We don't like to consider that God might sometimes cause harm or pain. We are more comfortable with God being our protector, shield, healer. But understanding God isn't the point - it's knowing that we are fully known and understood by God, and trusting that even when we find ourselves in chaos, God is with us (no matter the origin of that chaos). Sometimes rather than taking away the cause of our pain, God calls us to "look up" - to take our focus off of the things that disturb, frighten, and seem to threaten our very lives - and set out attention on the One who holds it all.
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:14-16)
Amen