Whenever I feel like life is difficult or my circumstances are less than desirable, I think of the story of the ancient Israelites, led by Moses out of Egypt into the wilderness as found in the Holy Bible.
They wandered from land to land for 40 years and lived on manna from heaven. At one point, after the Israelites complained about their life in the wilderness and the “light” bread provided by God, God must have become frustrated with their complaints and sent, as it says, “fiery flying serpents.” When bitten by one of these serpents, the Israelites would die soon thereafter. They complained against Moses saying, “Have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”
Moses prayed and received revelation from God containing the antidote to the bite of these poisonous serpents. “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.”
There is great symbolism in this story. Today our challenges may not include the bite of a poisonous serpent but we certainly have our share of problems that can be overwhelming.
News headlines alone are enough to cause people around the world to wonder if there is somewhere we can look to solve our problems and save us from despair, hatred, war and what overall seems to be a depressed state of existence. Well, there is!
I have found that my faith in Jesus Christ is like looking at the brazen serpent on Moses’s staff. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings hope and good news to this world that seems to be under a constant barrage of bad news. Christ has promised help and rest to our souls
if we will look to Him for peace and guidance.
We may still be bitten by the trials of life and feel the effects of a world full of unrest but it is my experience that accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior and following the teachings of His gospel is really the only rest, guidance and hope that helps me cope with the world around me. He is a beacon of light in a foggy world and for all who will look unto Him for refuge will find peace in this life and salvation in the next.
Loren B. Dickson is the Morgan Hill Stake President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. He can be reached at [email protected].
