A Joint Effort

Discouragement settled quickly on the children of Israel as they made their way from the crossing of the Red Sea towards the promised land. They frankly grew tired of the daily miracle of manna. So, they started to complain against God and against Moses. When would we get something real to eat, they wanted to know. Had Moses brought them out into the wilderness just to kill them with hunger and thirst?

Just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, God made them worse, just to prove a point. He sent "fiery serpents" among the people, "and much people of Israel died" (see Numbers 21:6).

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
--Numbers 21:7

In their spiritual immaturity, the people felt they had no power with God. They had not learned to ask and receive. So, they turned to their prophet in their distress. Though they lacked faith in themselves, they had faith in Moses. Yet Moses wished that every man in the camp of Israel could be a prophet (see Numbers 11:29).

Moses inquired of the Lord and received instruction. The Lord told him to create a serpent of brass and fix it on a pole so that everyone in the camp could see it. God promised that every infected person who looked at the brass serpent would be healed.

Moses brought the unusual answer to the people. Yet many refused to believe and act on Moses's direction, and they perished. On the other hand, those who had faith in Moses's revelation and followed his instructions were instantly healed as promised.

We learn a lot about pride and stubbornness from this incident. We also learn that prayer works. God hears and answers.

We learn further that we can pray for others over whom we have stewardship and receive direction to bless them. Our prayers can add power to the prayers of others, and our faith can bolster their faith. Our faith, however, cannot replace their faith, and our prayers cannot substitute fully for their prayers. Moses could not look at the serpent for others and heal them. Each had to look for himself or herself. Each had to exercise his or her own faith.

Prayer works best when it is a joint effort.