And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. (Numbers 21:4)
1. The Path of Discouragement
The children of Israel were on a pilgrimage from the land of Egypt to Canaan. Israel, like us, expected the faith journey to always be easy. God’s people anticipated a comfortable straight line from point A (Egypt) and point B (“The Promise Land,”). However, their expectations were quickly disappointed when the king of Edom refused to let them travel on “the king’s highway.” Israel was forced to travel though a barren and mountainous desert. (Num. 20:17)
God’s directions did not meet Israel’s expectations and the people were “much discouraged because of the way.”
2. The Poison of Discouragement
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. (Num. 21:5)
Numbers 21:5 was the eighth and final time Israel murmured. Murmur means, “To grumble; to complain; to utter complaints in a low, half articulated voice; to utter sullen discontent; with at, before the thing which is the cause of discontent.”
Discouragement caused Israel to murmur against God, Moses, and the Manna.
The Poison of Blaming God “And the people spake against God…”
Israel was walking an appointed way. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord…” (Psalm 37:23). They were led with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God could have destroyed Edom like He did the Egyptian army, but He chose not to. God allowed Edom to give Israel a hard time. It was God who led Israel around the Edomite nation. All complaints against Moses (the man) and Manna (the provision) were ultimately complaints against God Himself.
Discouragement is poison because it doubts God. It is the opposite of faith that pleases God. Discouragement means: “To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits; to deject; to deprive of confidence.”
Scripture tells us to “trust in the Lord with all thine heart” (Prov. 3:5). What the Edomites meant for evil God meant for good! (Gen. 50:20); “all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28); even when God chastens us, it is “for our benefit!” (Heb. 12:7-11).
The Poison of Blaming Man “and against Moses,”
God gave Israel the greatest leader in Scripture besides the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth (Num. 12:1). He communed with God face to face as a man does his friend (Ex. 33:11). Just because Israel had the greatest leader it did not exempt them from discouraging circumstances. The people wanted to blame somebody for their predicament when it was God that allowed a wilderness excursion. How easy it is to blame a spouse, a boss, a pastor, or even our own children for our sin of personal discouragement!
The Poison of Blaming Manna. “…for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.”
The people “loathed” the Manna, because it was all they had. “This light bread,” was angels’ food and tasted like wafers and wild honey. It pictured the daily bread of Scripture. Jesus told us that He is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:51). God was teaching Israel a lesson in the wilderness: “When the Bread of Life is all you have, you’ll find out it is all you need!” Jesus quoted the lesson of the wilderness to Satan: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Duet. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). We find that The Living Word and the written Word are sufficient for any wilderness we might be finding ourselves in (John 6:48-59).
3. The Penalty for Discouragement
“And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” (Num. 21:6). “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” (I Cor. 10:5). “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (I Cor. 10:9-11)
God doesn’t treat discouragement lightly. The plague of the poisonous serpents was a reflection of the souls of the discouraged Hebrew nation (“The soul of the people was much discouraged”). When the serpent in the garden got Eve to question God’s goodness and eat of the fruit, she spiritually died! (Gen. 3:5). Satan was doing the same poisonous work in the household of Israel.
Discouragement is a destructive poison!
4. The Plan to Cure Discouragement
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.(Num. 21:8)
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. (John 3:14-15)
“Look and Live” – When people cried out unto to God for deliverance, God did not rid the camp of serpents or even of the wilderness experience. He, rather, gave them a place and a person to look upon. Look away from your wounds and look up!
Look in faith! “Whosoever believeth in him…” Looking to the cross, we die to our own personal expectations and yield the control of our life back to Him. We believe in Him. We trust Him in “the way” that He has led us.
At the cross we learn to say with Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15) “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)