Spiritual Pests

One of the emphases of Lent is helping us reflect upon the human condition. We wrestle with certain inner tendencies that can divert us from what is important in our lives. In the agricultural world, a pest is "a plant or animal detrimental to humans or human concerns (as agriculture or livestock production)."

 

 

 

I would like to reflect a bit today on pests that will harm your life spiritually. The basis is Numbers 21:4-9, which I invite you to read before you continue with this article.

Consider the pest of impatience. “The people became impatient on the way.” We can all identify with these people and their impatience. We do grow weary at times, struggling with problems of one kind or another. Author Jerry Bridges considers impatience to be a "respectable sin" -- that is, a sin that we tend to tolerate in ourselves. However, impatience is a sign of a bigger problem, namely "our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations." That is what gets the Israelites in trouble, right? They demand that Moses and God conform to their expectations of a quick and comfortable trip to the promised land, along with good food and abundant water.

But wait. Are people of faith not supposed to conform to God's expectations, not the other way around? Impatience can shift our focus away from God and toward ourselves, so that we begin to believe that the world owes us a life of safety, comfort and convenience. It's a pest that can eat us up, like stink bugs on a peach.

Next, complaints. If someone asked you to name the number one sin in the world, what would you say? Pride, lust, envy? John Roberts, a pastor in Sterling, Colorado, considers a top sin to be complaining. "One of the problems with the sin of complaining is that it's so universal that many among us aren't even aware that it's a sin," he writes. "Everybody complains about stuff all the time. We are so surrounded by complaining that we hardly notice it, unless, of course, the complaints are directed against us."

Nevertheless, God is not oblivious to complaints. God is so serious about it that he tells the church to "Do everything without complaining or arguing" (Philippians 2:14, NIV). Pastor Roberts is convinced that complaining is an expression of our pride -- a sign that we think we know better than God.

Once again, the Israelites. They complain, "We detest this miserable food" (Numbers 21:5). They are not actually starving since God is sending them manna in the wilderness, but they are sick of it. Thinking back to Egypt, they remember feasting on fish, cucumbers, melons, leaks, onions and garlic. Because of their complaining, they get a bite they aren't expecting -- the bite of the poisonous serpents.

Finally, the most damaging of invasive species: Anger. We see this deadly pest in American politics today, with insults and venom hurled across the partisan divide. The people of Israel should honor God and respect Moses, but instead they rail against their divine and human leaders and accuse them of leading them to their doom, saying, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" (v. 5).

The people shoot angry venom at Moses and God, and as a result, they receive the venom of the serpents.

 

             Impatience, complaints, anger -- these sins are as real for us today as they were for the people of Israel. "Sin is a very real and present danger," says Old Testament professor Carol Bechtel Reynolds. "Though this idea is somewhat out of vogue in today's world, the book of Numbers never lets us forget it. With relentless honesty, Numbers confronts us with our own blights and blemishes." In this book, we find a self-portrait ... of ourselves.