Today I want to write about three stories in the Bible and connect them all together. I was having trouble thinking of a new topic to write about, when I heard one of these stories on Sunday during church. Story number one comes from Numbers 21. The Israelites are traveling following Moses' lead, and they became impatient. The people then began to complain and blame Moses and God for their suffering. God heard these complaints and He sent snakes that bit the people and poisoned them.
Anyone who was bitten by one of these snakes would die. The Israelites realized their mistake and repented and asked God to forgive them. Interestingly, God did not simply remove or kill the snakes, but commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and place it on a staff. Anyone who looked at this bronze snake would not die of the snake bites, and anyone who did not look would die.
The second story comes from Matthew 14. Jesus is teaching people near a lake, and commands the disciples to leave by boat. The disciples are now far from Jesus, because the winds are strong and the waves carry them far out in the water. Then they see a man walking on the water towards them. They do not know who it is, and even think it is a ghost. Jesus assures them that He is the one coming towards them, to which Peter replies "if it is you, command me to come to You on the water". Jesus tells Peter to come, and Peter is able to walk on the water towards Jesus, but then Peter sinks. Jesus catches Peter and prevents him from drowning.
The final story is one I have told before, but will tell again. Jesus leaves Bethany and becomes hungry. He goes to a fig tree, but sees that it has no fruit. Jesus then curses the fig tree, and the next day it is dead and withered. The disciples see this miracle and are amazed at what Jesus has done. Jesus then proceeds to tell them that anyone who has faith and no doubt will be able to cast a mountain into the sea. He then tells them that anything they pray for with faith will be granted.
So what do these stories all have in common? One thing I noticed is that they all talk about looking at something. What does that mean? It means the people involved in the stories had a choice. The choice was whether to look at the snakes that are biting you or the bronze snake on the staff. The choice was whether to look at the wind and the crashing waves or to look at Jesus. The choice was whether to look at the mountain or to look at God's power.
These stories are very applicable to us even today. They challenge us to not look at the worries of this world, but to look at Jesus. In the first story, the people were being bitten by venomous snakes. Obviously their first worry were these snakes that were attacking them. However, all they had to do was stop looking at the snakes and look at the bronze snake on the staff, and they would not have to worry about the venomous snakes anymore. When Peter is walking on water, had he been focusing on Jesus rather than the raging sea, Peter would not have to worry about drowning. In the last story, Jesus is telling us that we cannot look at how big the mountain is, but how powerful our God is.
God does not want us to be concerned with the problems we have or to worry about our lives. He wants us to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2)".
-Smart
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