Have you ever felt like echoing the Israelites by crying out, "Oh Lord, how much longer . . . ?"

Numbers Chapter 21: Victories, More Complaints, God’s Judgment with Serpents, the Bronze Serpent, and Journey to Moab

Numbers 21:1-35

Day 74. Violent protests last night all over America; quieter ones also in Toronto and London. About six years ago someone predicted that what the ruling class needs next were curfews and quarantine. Well, now they have both. What remains to be seen is how the authorities react. Things are very tense. Will America even be able to have its next election without first going through some form of mass civil unrest, if not another civil war. Some have been predicting that as well. I’m so glad I’m a believer in God Almighty. He’s got this. And His record is great as we find out again from our study in Numbers. Read on.

The Passage

Verses 1-3 describe a battle with the king of Arad that took some of the Israelites captive. The people then promised God that if He would deliver them into their hand, they would destroy them. And God delivered the Canaanites to them, and the Israelites utterly destroyed them and their cities. And they called the place Hormah.

Verses 4-5 describe how Israel travelled from Mount Hor, via the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. This journey caused the people to be very impatient. They spoke against God and Moses again, with the usual complaints.

Verse 6-9 describe how God sent fiery serpents to bite the people to the point where many died. The people then run to Moses again, indicate their remorse for sinning, and asking him to intercede for them so that God would remove the serpents. Moses did, and God instructed him to make a serpent, set it on a standard. When the Israelites that were bitten looked at it, they would live. Moses did just that using bronze, and God kept His word.

Verses 10-20 describe how the Israelites moved on to Oboth and then to Iye-abarim, in the wilderness opposite Moab. From there to Wadi Zered, then the other side of the Arnon (near the border of the Amorites and the border of Moab. In verse 14, we have a quote from the Book of the Wars of the Lord which also describes their route. And then they move to Beer where God give the people water, and Israel sang a song as recorded in verses 17-18. From there to Mattanah, on to Nahaliel, then Bamoth, and then the valley that is the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.

Verses 21-35 describe more victories over kings they had to encounter on the way. First Sihon, king of the Amorites who refused them and actually went out to battle with them, only to lose to the Israelites who took possession of his lands and lived in the various cities. And this included Heshbon which Sihon had taken from the king of the Amorites.

Verses 27-30 quote the account of that as given in the prophets in verse 15, then later in Numbers 32:3,24; Jeremiah 48:18, 22, & 46; and Isaiah 16:2.

Verse 31-35 tell us Israel continued to live in the land of the Amorites; Moses sent spies to Jazer which they conquered; and then they went via Bashan where Og the king of Bashan was preparing to battle with them at Edrei. God tells Moses not to fear him and that He had given these enemies into their hands as well. And so it happened that they killed them all and possessed that land too. 

Thoughts on the Passage

It appears that the Israelites never really learned. No wonder God found ways to eliminate more and more of them along the way as He had promised none of the originals who left Egypt would see the promised land.

Chuck Smith says that there are two types of people – ones that can easily find something to complain about in every aspect of their lives; and ones that can easily find something to be thankful about in every aspect of their lives. We know what the Israelites were. We know what kind of people God wants. The only left to ask ourselves is “What kind of person am I?”

We know that the children of Israel were tired; they had been travelling in the desert for over 37 years by now. Getting frustrated would be understandable – it was such a long time. Some Christians today, you may be one of them, can rightfully say with the Israelites, “How long oh Lord will I need to put up with this pain or this hurt or this situation?” There’s no doubt about it – you are in a difficult space. And many of us may have been there or will be there one day. I need us to see that God has not changed. He will still answer our prayers. And He will still deal with our sins as we utter those complaints. But as we see in the next few verses, He will provide a way out if we’re willing to keep on trusting Him.

And thus, in this chapter we have the great story of God sending fiery serpents to bite and kill the Israelites. [First note that they were sent by God – sometimes we forget that God can send challenges and tests our way.  And fiery because they may have been a red color or because their bite produced a burning sensation. If Isaiah 14:29 is relating this event here in Numbers, then we could also assume that these fiery serpents were also the flying type.] But God also provides a way for them to be saved. We will note that in verse 7, the people actually wanted Moses to pray and ask God to “remove the serpents” from them. But God did not. Sometimes, God does not solve our problems our way – just ask the Apostle Paul and his thorn in the flesh.

Now, I have to admit I find this account most interesting as it relates, or compares, to what Christ has done for us. It is a foreshadowing of that. (Many seem to think it is indeed an image of how Christ can save us.) If that is the case, notice two things here: First, God does not, to my knowledge, eliminate the fiery serpents. Instead, He has Moses build a bronze serpent and put it on a standard or staff to which the people can look at and be saved. To me, this says God does not always eliminate our problems (those serpents were still around) but He provides a way out for us, a way of safety and security. Second, please notice the people actually had to do something to be saved – they had to look up at the bronze serpent. I’ll say no more, but I think when we argue about man’s role in salvation and call it absolutely ‘nothing’, we are quibbling over ideas such as whether actually “accepting the gift of salvation” is doing something or it’s not doing something. Who really cares except those two factions that like to argue over everything? Salvation, is indeed, a free gift of God, but its effect as a gift becomes operable when I accept it. We can choose to live or to die. If the Israelites wanted to live, they had to look up. They had to do something. [It’s like a proposal for marriage – the power of that proposal can change one’s life, but only if it is accepted. Enough said here.]

The other thing we note about this event is that Jesus refers to it in John 3:14-15 where His words clearly make the story a foreshadowing of His own sacrifice. This symbol is also the source for the ancient figure of healing and medicine that we still see today. And by the way, David Guzik tells us that Charles Spurgeon was so impacted by this story in Numbers, that he used this symbol for all his publications. Unfortunately, later on, in 2 Kings 18:4 during Hezekiah’s reign we see this symbol being made into an idol that had to be destroyed.

In verse 14 we have reference to some writing referred to as The Book of the Wars of the Lord. This is ancient literature lost to history, but it is not a missing part of the Bible just as the reference quoted by Paul in Acts 17:28 from a pagan poet does not make it a missing part of the Bible.

The song recorded in verses 17 and 18 are passages of poetry which Guzik says, “are meant to show what a mighty people the Amorites were, and in contrast, how glorious Israel's victory over them was.

The rest of the chapter mainly deals with various battles that the Israelites are engaged in and their victories over their enemies. All with God’s enabling. It’s one thing for us to simply review this chapter and skim over all the historical events of battle; it’s another thing to have lived through them all and died in one of them. Can you imagine how those left behind felt? Was their future to be like that of their parents and grandparents?

Guzik ends his thoughts on this chapter as follows:

“The new generation of the children of Israel are making wonderful progress to the Promised Land, and experiencing victory after victory. Yet their challenges are not over, as the subsequent chapters will show.” Stick with us.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Get Over the Freakishness and Take Note of the Message

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Awakened: Hear No Evil

Starring Rob Boltin, Gwendolyn Edwards, Michael Monks and Hannah Hughes;

Directed by Brian R. Reed and Eugene Cuveas

Released by Word Entertainment LLC in 2016

This movie is a Christian version of a Hollywood ‘suspense’ or ‘thriller’, but clearly without the budget. The photography is not bad at all, and the actors certainly do a good job. It’s the writing and the plot line that leaves something to be desired when competing in this field. But the intended message is clear.

For Christians, the demons portrayed aren’t exactly what many may have in mind, but the one selected – a seductive voice from a now-dead singer – gets the message across that demons can ruin a life if you let them. As I watched it, it seemed that two other parallel imprisonments may well have been portrayed by this ‘demon’ – the captivity of pornography, or the haunting of one’s past adulterous relationship. No matter what it is that has one in a debilitating mental grip, this movie shows us there is hope if we really want to be free.

When a recently unemployed husband (Jacob, played by Rob Boltin) stays in their newly rented used house while his wife is at work, he discovers an old ‘reel to reel’ recording of a beautiful singer he is later told died in a car accident during a torrential downpour, just moments after having a fight with her lover. Of course, he is mesmerized by her voice and determines to find out all he can about her. After all, he was an investigative journalist. But when you combine the recording with his passion to investigate the woman behind the voice, somehow an evil spirit emerges that preoccupies his every thought and soon changes him, eventually to the point where he would do whatever it took to gain revenge for the dead singer.

It would be nice if demons just affected those that attract them, but they don’t. They have a way of wreaking havoc on their loved ones as well and it is not long before Jacob’s wife, Haley (played by Gwendolyn Edwards) starts to sense there’s something wrong. Jacob tells her what is going on and she begs him to just get rid of the recording – to destroy it.  But he does not and continues his pursuit.

Eventually Haley freaks out when Jacob starts behaving in very unloving ways and when she herself experiences the demon while alone in the house. The plot includes a close friend of Haley’s who warns her of something unhealthy going on and sensing the darkness present in their home.  Sometimes God uses our good friends to give us a heads up. And then Haley catches Jacob lying to her.  Things go from bad to worse. Her marriage was now to the point of looming self-destruction. Now what? This is the time to turn to the faith in which she had been brought up -- first to save herself, but hopefully also Jacob, and thus their marriage. It was a long-shot. With the help of her local pastor where she starts attending church again, Haley and the movie’s audience are treated to a lesson on the difference between Biblical demons and the ghosts and ghouls portrayed in movies.

The movie however has much more character than that with a most interesting plot that one should not give away in any review. Somehow there’s much more to her death than people were willing to share. For starters, an illegally obtained police report indicates it was an accident, but Jacob is convinced that the report was ‘just another dead end’. The demon comes and convinces him that it was indeed murder -- the singer, Carol (played by Hannah Hughes) had been killed and Jacob was hell-bent on avenging her .

Suffice it to say, the pastor tells Haley that God can “awaken” people in the time of their greatest need when lies are ruining their life, and thus the title of the movie. There’s no doubt, the movie wants to drive home the message that spiritual forces (both good and bad) are out there, but it is those working with and through God that end up victorious.

Running approximately 93 minutes, the DVD rated for all audiences of 12 and over, is available on line and through Christian Book and DVD retailers. It’s a great discussion starter on the topic of spiritual warfare.  Recommended.

--  By Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, September 05, 2016. www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Recognize No Evil; Admit To No Evil; Speak No Evil

Breaking The Veil Of Silence

Author: Jobst Bittner

Published by: TOS Publishing, Tübingen, Germany, 2013

I agreed to review this book because of my high regard for the Jewish people, from Abraham who lived about 3,800 years ago right up to those Jews living around the world today. So I was surprised to find out it had just as much to do with Christians. Silence about the past, the evil past, is a condition of the mind and heart that can prey on all of us. Thus its subject concerns many of us.

Jobst Bittner, the author, is the President of TOS Ministries, a multi-initiative work which is best described through its website. But for purposes of this review, Bittner is a German pastor, theologian, and activist. He tackled Germany’s “veil of silence” which covered the country’s history, the reign of Hitler, and the Holocaust, starting with Tübingen, the university city which gave rise to the “final solution” and its promoters after the Jews were blamed for the Black Plague. And he succeeded.  In this book, Bittner challenges us to tackle our own “veil of silence” in ourselves, in our families, communities, cities, and country, but above all in our churches. If we do it for no other reason, we must do it for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, if not more future generations.  The impact on children in each of these generations is discussed at great length. He shows us that unless we break this “silence”, there cannot be the spiritual healing each of these entities (family, city, church, community, and country) needs.  And without the healing, one has a hard time benefitting from the full extent of God’s intended blessings.

With respect to the Church, the author points out what happened to it since the early days after Christ’s crucifixion and ascension each time they moved away (or were taken away) from their Jewishness. He also shows us how, contrary to popular belief, Constantine didn’t do the Church any favors.

I found this book to be a serious treatise of the topic – very methodical, detailed, well-researched, and most informative. He does a great job of integrating psychological and psychiatric models into his explanations which are interesting. I was sharing its contents with some family and friends while still reading it and already a number have asked to borrow it. The topic is certainly still, for one reason or another, a very hot one. He spends time showing us where the veil of silence comes from, what it is, and where it’s found today. And then he moves us, using the parallel of those who experienced the Holocaust and the concentration camps of Hitler Germany, through the various generations of victims and how the silence has impacted each. And don’t think there’s no room in this process for Jewish people to ask forgiveness of the Germans, there is. But I’ll let you discover where for yourself.

As already mentioned, the book is not just about the victims (the Jews of Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, and many other places), it’s also about the perpetrators – both inside and outside the church – for all the same generations, up to today. We meet the children of SS officers and we cry with those who had to visit the very ground that their parents or grandparents were executed or annihilated. But it’s all worthwhile for them, as it should be or could be for us.   

Bittner addresses the issue of whether or not, and if so, why and how, we can repent for the sins of our forefathers – and he does so with biblical backing. One of his chapters focuses on the fact that any veil of silence can be actually broken, but he warns us that it’s not a piece of cake. He does an excellent job of explaining how Christ “remained silent” on the cross, so we don’t have to be silent today.  Finally, he gives us vibrant example after example of how the “veil of darkness” encompassing the Holocaust has indeed been broken, in Germany, America, and elsewhere.

I love his line, “Most of the time, religious silence resists the power of God, always wanting to retreat to the ‘privacy’ of one’s personal faith.” How true that is and also how much it renders us ineffective.

The problem for many readers will be that we cannot even imagine some of the kind of memories those people he writes about had, let alone actually have them ourselves.

I recommend the book for any pastor who wants to break the silence in his/her church; for any parent who wants to break it in his/her family; for any counsellor who needs to better understand his/her clients; and for anyone who wants to be healed of his/her own silence.

·      By Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, August 30, 2016. www.accordconsulting.com

Get the book here: http://astore.amazon.com/accorconsu-20

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

I Can't Believe I Walked In That

Sacred Dung: Grace to Turn Bad Things Into Good Things

John D. Duncan, Austin Brothers Publishing, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 2015

I Can’t Believe I Walked In That!

This is John Duncan’s third book in his “Sacred” trilogy.  In the first one, Sacred Space, he shared with us how to find a) the silence we need in order to survive in this crazy world, b) the speech that we need to be able to converse with God, and c) the ear we must cultivate to hear God. In his second book, Sacred Grit, he takes us to a training ground for the Christian life if we plan to finish well.

In Sacred Dung, he is basically telling us: There are good things and there are bad things. Good things happen to good people and bad people. And more importantly, bad things also happen to bad people; and most importantly, they happen to good people, too.  But for the Christian who has been prepared in the Sacred Space, and trained and equipped with Sacred Grit – dealing with the Sacred Dung is possible, beneficial, and is exactly what God wants of us while we’re walking this earth.

To accomplish this, Duncan takes us through some teaching on Sacred Refuse, showing us the need to move away from focusing on the past and start looking to the future.  He shows us how to eradicate the darkness that has befallen us (or that we have fallen into) and start to shed light into the available crevices. He also points out that the party’s over if we cannot “dump the dung” – we may as well “Kiss life goodbye” and “Turn out the lights”. But he doesn’t just say that – he tells us where and how to start the dumping process.

When we come across dung in our lives, we must realize that it is in essence our wilderness, our desert.  We all hit one sooner or later. The author shows us how to move from loss to gain.

In the process, John Duncan helps each of us realize what many of us refuse to accept. With some wonderfully written examples, he convinces us that we cannot predict the future, neither can we control, nor force, life. Surprises happen.  Some are good but some are bad.

I’ve tried to refrain from giving away the author’s wonderful quotes, allowing readers to discover them for themselves, but I had to get this one in: “Sacred dung invites us into God’s light in the darkness, into His oasis of grace in the wilderness, and into His healing grace in the agony of the soul.”  We come out of the wilderness and away from the dung remarkably different and yes, better, people. The book is proof that no matter what, God is good – not just some of the time, but really “all the time” – even in our dung.  There, God does His best work on our lives.

In the latter part of the book, Duncan shows us how God turns hurt to healing sharing some of his own life with us, as well as the lives of others.  That alone is a great solace to any one of us.  But he takes the reader beyond that point of focus on his/her own hurt and healing. He talks about “stitches coming out” but “scars remaining”.  And for many, those scars are often hidden.  He says they’re “unseen, unknown, invisible” to others.  But we are to assume they are there and act accordingly towards others.  Here’s the way it should work – God graces us so that we can grace others.  God heals us, allowing us to use our experiences, to help others heal.

If you like great quotes, John has his own, but he also draws on some terrific and very applicable ones from the great poets and writers of history. And he also likes talking right to the reader – something that takes a little getting used to, but it works well for him.

Speaking of quotes, I just must leave you with this last one from the author near the end of Sacred Dung: “All you have to do in the dung is hold your nose and open your eyes to see God’s presence, protection, and power; to see His strength as a refuge for you by faith, under grace, and in the hope of His joy.”

If you’ve stepped in the dung, or are doing so now, this book has the potential of helping you dump it and staying out of it.  If you’ve never been there, keep living, you will be and this book can help you navigate your feet away from it when that time comes, for it will.

-- Ken B. Godevenos, Accord Resolution Services Inc., Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 15/11/25

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Christians and Our Attitude to Physical Healing . . .

I believe many Christians struggle with the issue of "healing".  Why do some get healed and others do not?  Why am I sick and he is not?  Or vice-versa.  Why do some get better and no one seems to have prayed for them while another person dies after a whole church prayed for them?  And the list of questions can go on.

I had occasion recently to reread the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3 and I came upon these words in verses 17 and 18 that the three young Hebrew men uttered to king Nebuchadnezzar.  They said them just before he cast them into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire as he had promised he would do to any who were caught not worshiping a golden image:

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

"But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

As I read these words, I thought -- isn't this exactly how God wants us to react to the matter of physical healing?  I believe it is.  Take a look at what advice we can apply to physical healing from Daniel's writing:

1. A belief that God can heal.  "Our God . . . IS ABLE to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire," or the infirmity we are praying about.
2. A requirement that our faith be in "Our God, whom WE SERVE. . . "  The delivery, or in our case, the response to a request for physical healing of our own or on behalf of someone else seems to come best when the request is made by one who 'serves' God and knows God intimately.
3. Although God is able, He may choose not to deliver us from this condition, but in any case, He definitely "WILL deliver us out of your hand, O king" or out of the hand of the Enemy in our case -- or maybe, out of the hand of spiritual death.  God may not heal, although He is able to heal, but He will deliver us from the Enemy -- whether it be that He will be with us through the rest of our lives with this infirmity or whether He takes us home to be free of it.
4. "BUT even if He does not (deliver us from the fire or heal us in our case)," we will continue to serve Him and not give in to atheism or idolatry.  We will accept what He chooses to do as being best for us.

As I have struggled with the questions that I raised above, I see that only by this approach as practiced by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with respect to being thrown into the fiery furnace, can we deal with them.  I have that kind of confidence in my God -- He will deliver me out of the hands of the Enemy.  I pray you do as well.  But I'd like to hear of your experiences and thoughts on this topic.  Just go to the comments section at the bottom of this blog and share them with us.

Thanks for dropping by.  Sign up to receive free updates.  We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources.  Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar.  And please share this blog with your friends.   Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

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