Numbers 20: 2-5 (MSG)
There was no water there for the community, so they ganged up on Moses and Aaron. They attacked Moses: “We wish we’d died when the rest of our brothers died before God. Why did you haul this congregation of God out here into this wilderness to die, people and cattle alike? And why did you take us out of Egypt in the first place, dragging us into this miserable country? No grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates—and now not even any water!”
Numbers 21: 4-9 (GW)
4. Then they moved from Mount Hor, following the road that goes to the Red Sea, in order to get around Edom. The people became impatient on the trip. 5. and criticized God and Moses. They said, “Why did you make us leave Egypt—just to let us die in the desert? There’s no bread or water, and we can’t stand this awful food!” 6. So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. 7. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we criticized the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord so that he 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 on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. People looked at the bronze snake after they were bitten, and they lived.
What can shift your gaze from the Lord?
- Lack of life’s essentials.
Numbers 20:2 (EASY) – The people did not have any water to drink. They complained to Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 21:5 (EASY) – They complained to God and to Moses, ‘You should not have brought us from Egypt to die here in the desert. There is nothing to eat. There is no water to drink. We do not like this bad food, manna .’
One of the crucial things that shift our attention away from the Lord to other things is legitimate’s life’s needs. We tend to focus our gaze on people or places that we feel can meet our needs.
- Discontent and complaints will always shift our gaze to the mundane and produce a retrogressive viewpoint.
Numbers 20:3 (GW) – The people complained to Moses and said, “If only we had died when the other Israelites died in the Lord’s presence!
How can people that suffered so much in the hands of Pharoah ever think it would be better to go back to Egypt? How could they ever think it was better to be dead than alive? There is always hope of a better day ahead for someone alive than for someone dead.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 (GW) – But all who are among the living have hope, because a living dog is better than a dead lion.
- Forgetting what the Lord has done in the past.
Numbers 20:4 (ERV) – Why did you bring the Lord’s people into this desert? Do you want us and our animals to die here?
Dear friends, never get to a place in life where you forget what the Lord has done for you in the past. These people experienced the Lord’s miracles in Egypt. They saw how the 10 plagues ravaged the land of Egypt but those plagues never came to Goshen. They witnessed the mighty deliverance of the Lord in the red sea. How they passed through the red sea but Pharaoh and his army drowned in the same sea. How could they ever forget? May we never forget!
- Myopic mindset.
Number 20:5 – Why did you bring us from Egypt? Why did you bring us to this bad place? There is no grain. There are no figs, grapes, or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”
Is this all that life has got to offer? The promise of God to them was that He would take them to the promised land, where they would build their own houses and fields and enjoy the good of the land. But because they shifted their sight from the Lord to what was happening around them, all they could see and were a priority to them were “figs”, “grapes” and “pomegranates”. How satisfying could “figs”, “grapes” and “pomegranates” be compared to the great things that the Lord had in store for them?
- Discouragement and Impatience – Numbers 21:4
Discouragement is an emotional feeling that an individual can have that depicts a lack of enthusiasm or confidence to do something. Discouragement can occur when someone has been doing the same thing for a long time without any cogent result. The antidote to Discouragement is to look unto Jesus. The antidote is to instill your blood-bought position as heir of the Most High through the promises in the Word of God. There are situations in life that may bring discouragement, but we must make a choice not to stay discouraged. The more we look at “The Helper”, the more we receive the grace and strength not to give up. Amen.
- Looking to other things will not leave you the same
Numbers 21:6 – So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many of the Israelites died.
Dear friends, leaving Jesus for an alternative, immediate solution cannot and will not leave you the same. The only thing that will be obtained from such an alternative expedition is pain caused by the devil’s poison. The only antidote is to Come Back to the Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2 (TPT) – We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!
Isaiah 31:6 (ERV) – People of Israel, you should come back to the God you turned away from.
Matthew 11:28 (ERV) – “Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry. I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (Easy) – Come to me all of you who are tired. You are like people who have worked for a long time. You are like people who have carried heavy things. Come to me. If you do that, you will find a place to rest.
Song
“Look and live,” my brother, live,
Look to Jesus now, and live;
’Tis recorded in His word,
Hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.”
Composed by: William A. Ogden, 1887
Will you be willing to pray with me on what you just read?
Prayer: My Father and my Lord, your word says: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and search for me, and turn from their evil ways, then you will hear their prayer from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal them. Lord, I come humble to you today. I repent of my sinful ways and the gods that I have created as alternatives to you. I turn back to you today. And I receive your forgiveness and healing by faith in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Tolulope Victoria Balogun
Excellent Life 2023