Read about God bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt and you’ll notice a frustrating refrain: “Israel grumbled against the Lord.” How could they grumble against the God who saved them from slavery, you ask? Part of the reason you and I get frustrated with the refrain is that it is a familiar one in our lives. 

Once, God sent snakes to bite the people to wake them from their grumbling. Moses prayed for them, and God said, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8). It may seem crazy that looking at a snake led to healing, but it worked because God had promised it. God did not take away the poisonous snakes; instead, he dealt with the poison.

God has done the same for us. The poisonous snake I’m referring to is sin. Has that snake bitten you today? Okay, that’s a dumb question. Here’s a better question. How badly has it bitten you today? That’s more accurate, isn’t it? Sin is horrible. Sin is deadly. Sin hurts.

God has given us the answer to sin’s poison. When Jesus died and rose, he paid for our sins in full. Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14,15). Keep looking to Jesus, your antidote for sin!