Fourth Sunday in Advent: Old Testament, Numbers 21:4-9                        

Numbers 21:4-9

The children of God wandering through the wilderness are well on their way to the land promised to their fathers by the Lord himself. The careful reader of Scripture will always find that when God’s people begin to make progress, any progress, there will undoubtedly come opposition. In their trek, God’s people found that to be their experience. But the opposition isn’t the end of the issue. Rather, it is our response to it that matters. And as is true in all our steps before God, we can only continue in His direction, placing one foot in front of the other as long as we hear and trust His Word.

But the opposition encountered doesn’t move this band of “rebels” toward the word of the Lord, by which He has made divine provision. No, the opposition moves them to doubt and complaint, the verbalizing of their doubt. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food” (21:5).

Today, God’s Christians must guard, through constant repentance (itself a gift from God) their hearts from coming to the same conclusions as we see opposition mount around us. We are not called to panic nor fear, but trust. Now, I write this admitting I have every inkling toward the behavior of my wilderness ancestors. I’m good at complaining. You? During this blessed Lenten season, let’s press in together to hear the Word of the LORD. “I will never fail you or forsake you,” says our God. 

Oh Lord, give us hearts filled with a trust that ends our wandering and leads us home. To You.