Numbers

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.”
– Numbers 21:8 (NRSV)

There’s not much food in the wilderness.
That’s no surprise.
There’s not much water either.
No surprise.

Taking a community on a 40-year journey by foot
brings on grumbling and impatience.
No surprise there either.

There are snakes and scorpions in the wilderness.
Yes.

Here is the surprise.
Up to now, they haven’t bothered the wanderers.
They’ve passed through acres of snake-filled, scorpion-infested wilderness
and not one deadly bite harmed them.

The Jewish Rabbis say
Up to now, God “held back” the poisonous snakes
making a smoother path through the wilderness.
But when they forgot about graciousness and trust,
and sank into their scarcity
God “let go” what had always been there,
not to be cruel or punishing or dealing in death
but because sometimes it takes being present to your life
to really to know life.

The snakebite deaths started to add up.

“Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole;
and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”

Perhaps it is the looking up,
a trusting raising of their heart
even amid pain
that brings healing.

Perhaps in the gazing
there is remembering
and re-membering makes them whole.

Perhaps welcoming the shape of what ails them,
makes space for remedy.
Love gathers within.
And there is Life.

What in your life feels like it might be a “snake in the wilderness”—something painful, worrying, or draining? What might it mean to look toward it, trusting God to be present there?

Who in your life or community might be struggling with “poison in the system”—fear, bitterness, exhaustion, grief, injustice? What might it look like to hold them in prayer, or to be a small sign of encouragement or healing for them?

Make time for a contemplative walk, even if over to your window, take a photo of something that invites you to “look up” — a sky, a tree, a pattern of light — and share it as a sign of hope.