look upon God and live~ Numbers 21

Again the Israelites whine and fuss about dinner. I sort of reminds me of a discouraged, spoiled child. God punished them in a most gruesome manner. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." Numbers 21:6 Everyone gets discouraged at times, when the way is hard. We need not stoop to rebelling against God. We might pray for strength, instead throwing off the natural man. "Murmuring seems to come so naturally to the natural man." Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Nove. 1989, 82

This time they appear to be humbled. "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people." Numbers 21:7

Ever patient Moses asked God to take the fiery serpents away. The Lord's answer was odd, but Moses obeyed. "And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Numbers 21:8–9 Each person only needed to look at the brass serpent to be saved from the bites of the fiery serpents. Some did; some didn't.

As with many stories in Scripture, this is a type of Jesus Christ. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:14-16 Just as the faithful of the Children of Israel only needed to look at the brass serpent to live, we must look to Christ and believe in Him. We must believe that He can heal us and save us.

Elder Carlos E. Asay said: “We, like Israel of old, must rivet our eyes and minds upon … Christ if we hope to gain eternal life. … Our looks must not be allowed to wander across the way or to become fixed upon the perishable things of the world. The eye … must be trained to look upward. We must look to God and live!” (Ensign, Nov. 1978, 54).

It seemed like a ridiculously easy thing to the ones who wouldn't look, and it was. the way to eternal life is easy, too. Some people try to complicate the way to eternal life. "But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble." Jacob 4:14 Looking beyond the simple, saving principles of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and obedience, they lose focus on faith in Christ.

Let us look past the things of the world and be unafraid of the “giants” that distract us from the things that are most important. If we “look upon the Son of God with faith” (Helaman 8:15) and follow His prophets old and new, we will be blessed in this life and in the life to come. "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." Alma 37:6

Now let's liken this to our own lives. What simple things has God invited me to do? Do I believe that doing these things will result in great blessings? Do I put them off to pursue things of the world?

I am using several resources to study the Old Testament this year: Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel, The Old Teastament for Latter-day Saint Families, and The First 2,000 Years,the Third Thousand Years,the Fourth Thousand Years.3-vols From Adam to Malachi by W Cleon Skousen