As Strange As It May Seem

I was a child when I first heard the phrase, “God works in mysterious ways.”

I suppose that this is a more polite way of saying that God works in strange ways.

If you really think about it, His ways are often strange... to us.

No matter how long we have been believers, we can never completely understand His ways.

Isaiah reminded us of that.

Isaiah 40:13 (NET) – Who comprehends the mind of the LORD, or gives Him instruction as His counselor?

God both listens to and answers prayer but often times not in the way we would either prefer or expect.

In the book of Numbers, the people complained both about God and His servant Moses.

God’s response came in the form of poisonous snakes.

Numbers 21:6 (NET) – So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

It did not take long for the people to realize their error.

They went to Moses and confessed that they had sinned against God.

They asked Moses to pray that God would send the snakes away.

So, Moses prayed for the people.

God both heard and answered that prayer but certainly not in the way the people expected.

God told Moses to make a poisonous snake of bronze and set it on a pole.

He then instructed that when (not if) one was bitten he should look upon the bronze serpent.

If he did, he would live.

How strange this must have seemed to the people.

They expected God to take the snakes away.

Instead, God gave them something to do.

Something that, on the surface, seemed to make no sense at all.

Those that followed His instructions lived.

Those that did not, perished.

I suspect that it did not take very long for the people to realize God was as good as His word.

I also suspect that it did not take very long for the people to realize that it was in their best interest to know exactly where the bronze serpent was at all times in case they were bitten.

Perhaps this was an object lesson in and of itself.

Looking was important.

Knowing exactly where to look was also important.

That is a very good lesson for us today.

Sometimes we find ourselves in difficult circumstances.

When we do, we often pray to God to remove those circumstances.

Sometimes the circumstances remain.

If that is the case, the better prayer would be to ask how He wants us to deal with those circumstances.

Be open to the possibility that God wants to bring about a change in us rather than our circumstances.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com