I don’t like snakes or spiders, especially poisonous ones! And I bet you can say the same. Well…..most of you. Some of you have pet snakes or spiders! Ewww!
I remember a time when Katie was almost 4. She was playing outside with her big brother and sister.
Out of breath, her big sister Heather rushed into the house, “Mom there is a spider on Katie!”
“Well, knock it off,” I replied, plain and simple since spiders are not uncommon creatures.
To this day I still wonder how at 6 years old she knew, but she said, “No Mom! It's a BAD spider!”
I quickly went out back to our patio to find Katie standing with both arms stretched out crying big crocodile tears. The black spider was crawling across her arm. I took a small twig and gently knocked the spider to the ground. I could not tell what kind of spider it was for sure but I feared it was a black widow. From what I had heard you have to look at the belly of a black widow to know if it was one. I knew I needed to find out but I could not get the spider to turn over so I stood guard and asked someone to go inside and get me a clear plastic container.
We caught the spider in the container and sure enough it was a black widow!! According to Heather the spider had crawled up Katie’s arm across her neck and was crawling down the other arm by the time we got to her. Had she been bitten?!? We did not know!
I called poison control and they told me to look for a bite. I searched all over her little body and did not see anything that looked like a bite. I was relieved but still worried. Poison control assured me that if she was bitten she would develop a fever and other symptoms within the next few hours. So we watched and waited and she was fine!! Praise the Lord!! Katie was not bitten that day!
As for the spider, well it remained in the plastic container until I was sure it was dead. I watched it die! Then I stomped it and flushed it down the toilet. I was not taking any chances with that spider.
In Numbers 21 we find the children of Israel, weary from the battle and discouraged by the journey, tempting God to give them the world. They had come out of the world but they wanted it back. Battles and weariness can do that to the Christian!
The curse of the world came in the form of fiery serpents. Many were bitten and many died. The children of Israel acknowledged their sin and asked Moses to pray for them. The answer to Moses’ prayer was a serpent of brass on a pole lifted between Heaven and earth. Any one bitten by a fiery serpent need only to look at the serpent of brass and live!
On the cross lifted between Heaven and earth, Jesus became our sin for us. He took upon Himself the curse of our sin.
Our sin is dead!! The curse of our sin is dead!! Even though we have been bitten by sin’s deadly venom, we do not have to perish. There is no cause for deadly loss! Is this not good news? It is!! It is the good news of the gospel! We just have to believe and we can look to Jesus now and live!!
“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
Loser Bible Study Series Theme Verse:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Mark 8:35
“Lose” from the Greek word “Apollymi” means “to destroy fully.” It is translated perish in John 3:15, our verse for today.