God does not always answer prayers in the way we expect. He often does exceedingly above what we could ask or think! Solomon asked God for wisdom, and in addition to wisdom beyond all others God granted Solomon long life, wealth, and peace from his enemies. Paul prayed God would remove a messenger of Satan from his life, and God answered no: it was in weakness Paul would realise God's strength exponentially. God's ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts are greater too.
Recently I came across another example when God answered prayer in an unexpected, miraculous way. Numbers 21 speaks of an instance when God's people were discouraged because of the way God led them. They spoke angrily against God, Moses, and even against the manna God graciously provided them for their survival. To chasten them, God sent venomous snakes among them which bit the people and many died. Numbers 21:7 reads, "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people." Seems like a sensible request, right? If God took away the snakes no one would be bitten. Problem solved! This is what God did for Pharaoh in response to his request when was plagued: ask the God who sent frogs, flies, and lice to remove the problem and all would be well. But God had something else entirely in mind.
Numbers 21:8-9 says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." God did for the people what they did not ask. The text does not tell us God removed all the snakes, but He desired to save all who had a death sentence upon them. His aim was not to keep people from being bitten in the first place but to provide deliverance and hope for all who had. This is earth-shattering truth. When we are in "damage control" mode, God works to redeem and save. All who exercised faith to simply look upon the bronze serpent would be saved. God extended love, grace, and compassion to all those who faced the fangs of death.
I have heard people charge God with wrong for allowing sin to remain on the earth. But hasn't God done more than we could have asked by sending Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, the One who can set captives free? Everyone in the human race is born under the curse of sin, but God has provided a way through faith to be saved. Jesus said in John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." The fangs of sin have sunk into our souls, yet being born again through faith in Jesus not only removes the curse but imputes God's righteousness unto us. We were beyond all hope, and God made a way of salvation by grace through faith. What a wonderful God, who supplied a way of eternal salvation from the fires of hell before we ever realised it!
Recently I came across another example when God answered prayer in an unexpected, miraculous way. Numbers 21 speaks of an instance when God's people were discouraged because of the way God led them. They spoke angrily against God, Moses, and even against the manna God graciously provided them for their survival. To chasten them, God sent venomous snakes among them which bit the people and many died. Numbers 21:7 reads, "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people." Seems like a sensible request, right? If God took away the snakes no one would be bitten. Problem solved! This is what God did for Pharaoh in response to his request when was plagued: ask the God who sent frogs, flies, and lice to remove the problem and all would be well. But God had something else entirely in mind.
Numbers 21:8-9 says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." God did for the people what they did not ask. The text does not tell us God removed all the snakes, but He desired to save all who had a death sentence upon them. His aim was not to keep people from being bitten in the first place but to provide deliverance and hope for all who had. This is earth-shattering truth. When we are in "damage control" mode, God works to redeem and save. All who exercised faith to simply look upon the bronze serpent would be saved. God extended love, grace, and compassion to all those who faced the fangs of death.
I have heard people charge God with wrong for allowing sin to remain on the earth. But hasn't God done more than we could have asked by sending Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, the One who can set captives free? Everyone in the human race is born under the curse of sin, but God has provided a way through faith to be saved. Jesus said in John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." The fangs of sin have sunk into our souls, yet being born again through faith in Jesus not only removes the curse but imputes God's righteousness unto us. We were beyond all hope, and God made a way of salvation by grace through faith. What a wonderful God, who supplied a way of eternal salvation from the fires of hell before we ever realised it!
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