Friday, July 10, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Numbers 21-23
Key Verse
Numbers 22:19 — “Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.”
Devotional Thought
The bronze serpent on the pole is one of the strangest cures in all of Scripture. Israel, camped in the wilderness after the long detour around Edom, grew “much discouraged because of the way.” They spoke against God and against Moses, despising the manna as “light bread.” So the LORD sent fiery serpents, and many died. When the people confessed their sin and Moses prayed, God did not remove the serpents; He provided a remedy in the midst of them. Whoever was bitten had only to look at the lifted-up serpent of brass and live. No medicine, no pilgrimage, no penance — just a look of faith at what God had appointed. Centuries later, Jesus would take this very image and apply it to Himself: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
Notice how the rest of today’s reading underscores a single truth: God’s blessing cannot be reversed. When Balak, king of Moab, saw what Israel had done to Sihon and Og, he hired Balaam to curse them. Balaam built seven altars and offered seven bullocks and seven rams, then opened his mouth — and blessing came out. “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?” he asked. Balak moved him to a different hill, as if geography might change the verdict, and again the word was blessing. “God is not a man, that he should lie… hath he said, and shall he not do it?” The very mercies He promises are as unshakable as His character.
We live in a summer season when many of us are, quite literally, on the way — traveling, moving, between seasons of work and rest. Discouragement often comes not in crisis but in the ordinary grind of a long road. And in those moments we are tempted to despise the small, daily bread God gives. Yet the remedy has not changed. We do not look to our own resources or resolve; we look to Christ, lifted up for us. And the enemy of our souls, whatever curse he may attempt to pronounce over us, cannot overturn what God has blessed. In Christ, the verdict is settled: “There is therefore now no condemnation.”
Reflection
- When discouragement makes you despise the ordinary provision of God, where are you tempted to look for relief instead of looking to Christ lifted up?
- Balak tried again and again to reverse God’s blessing. What “curse” — from your past, your failures, or the enemy’s accusations — do you need to stop trying to earn your way out from under, and simply trust God’s settled verdict?
Prayer
Father, we confess that we have grumbled against You in the weariness of the way, despising the bread You give and doubting Your goodness. Thank You that even when fiery serpents were deserved, You provided a remedy and did not leave us to die. Fix our eyes on Jesus, lifted up for us, that we might live. And when the enemy rises to curse what You have blessed, remind us that Your word stands forever and cannot be reversed. Let us die the death of the righteous and let our last end be like his. In Christ’s name, Amen.