Thank God For The Thorns

Numbers 21:8-9 -   The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

As the Israelites came towards the land God had promised them….they had to fight many of the people of the lands they were traveling through.  They won each battle…with God’s help of course…. but still became discouraged from all the traveling and constant battles. Eventually they let their spirits become so discouraged that they began to speak out against Moses and Aaron once again…using the same old excuse that things were better in Egypt. 

God was so upset with them that he quickly sent poisonous snakes among them … many of them dying from being bitten. They repented quickly …asking Moses to pray for them … but God did not take the snakes away.  What he did do was to tell Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole…and if the people who were bitten chose to look at it after being bitten…they did not die.

It made me think of Paul’s reflection in 2 Corinthians 12:7-8…about the thorn God refused to remove from his life. Paul says his thorn was to keep him from becoming conceited. The snakes were a constant reminder that complaining about the aspects of their journey...or the leaders God had raised up for them…..showed a lack of trust in God. Perhaps the thorns I think God has allowed in my life…are meant to teach me the same lessons.

We are never as effective for God when we think too highly of ourselves.  The pride that tries to overtake the humility God wants to drive us to be his servant… can quickly take a ‘God moment’ for someone else…and turn it into a ‘me’ moment that puffs up our spirit in the wrong way.  I will admit quickly that God has allowed more than one ‘thorn’ in my own journey to know him better….and I am very thankful now…although at the moment the ‘thorns’ appeared I was just like these Israelites.

Father…thank you for the thorns you have allowed in my life.  Forgive me for the times that I did not accept them as lessons in faith. Help me to be fully trusting in you…so you can help me be more like Paul….knowing that what I perceive as thorns…can be powerful tools for you to teach me humility….so I can become a better servant of your kingdom.  Amen.