Last week, we aired our first podcast episode. That’s really exciting and I’m really hopeful that God will touch lives through these feeble attempts. Your prayers and encouragement have always been timely. Thank you for being a part of the journey so far. 

Today, our title is a big word. A Hebrew word actually. Recline in your chair or bed as I share this true story with you. 

Once upon a time, long ago and far away in the wilderness between Egypt and Caanan, the Israelites rebelled against God yet again. As a consequence of their actions, snakes came after them. It wasn’t easy. It got so bad that bachelors opened their rice cookers to grab something to eat only to find snakes jumping out at them! The people were sorry they ever sinned, and they asked God to help them. God listened and asked Moses to construct a bronze serpent hung on a pole. This would be salvation from the venomous snake bites. It worked, and this was going to become a symbol of the crucified Christ eventually. It was a great blessing in the wilderness.  

So up until this point, the bronze serpent was huge gift of God, a blessing. We don’t hear much about it until thousands of years later, in 2 Kings 18:4. But in this verse, the bronze serpent had a new name, Nehushtan which means “a thing made of copper”. It had become an idol that had to be destroyed. 

How on earth did the gift of God become an idol? How did a blessing from God become an obstacle between God and his people? Because anything God gives is supposed to draw us closer to Him who is the source. The bronze serpent wasn’t the only gift that became an idol. In fact, God says this to the people of Israel in Isaiah 22:11 

“You looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city” 

It has been in the nature of man to focus solely on the benefits, and not go after the source Himself. The question I ask myself is, do we find ourselves in a similar situation today? I have my fears. I have fears because a lot of our religious talk today is about how to get a lot from God. A lot of money, a lot of anointing, a lot of things that God gives. But there is very little talk about how to get God. God has been reduced to becoming a means to an end. The real goal is the money, fame or power. These have become the real deal. We call them goals. I fear that they are nothing but rebranded Nehushtans. A strange kind of idolatry because they are supposed to point us to the Lord, but they have become lords in our lives. For some even, the goal is just the forgiveness of sins. So they are stuck in a cycle of sinning and coming to God for forgiveness, and that is it. No attempt whatsoever to live a life in pursuit of God himself. They are ok with the “God loves me just as I am gospel”. I came down hard on you with that one, didn’t I?  

Maybe we need to ask ourselves this question, “What am I really looking for?”  I pray our answer falls nothing short God. I heard this from Prophet Edem Julius Cudjoe and I’d like to share. He said there are 7000 promises in scripture, but the Holy Spirit is called “The Promise”. God is the Blessing, and all other blessings are to lead our hearts to a pure total devotion to Him.