Listen for the Lord’s voice in the midst of hardship; He is speaking.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So, the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:4-9

At times, God will use hardships to shake us out of misguided mindsets. Unexpected difficulty removes distractions, teaches us, refocuses our mind on the Lord, and is often followed by a moment of great clarity.

This is evident in today’s passage, where we learn God has directed the Israelites to take a particular route in order to avoid the Edomites. The people became impatient because of the lengthy journey and began to complain about Moses and God. They had turned their minds away from the Lord, who then needed to capture their attention.

It is interesting that God decided not to do so through blessing or a miraculous sign. After all, the Israelites had seen Him move in such a way on more than one occasion (Exodus 14:31). Instead, God sent poisonous snakes into the camp. What was the response of those who witnessed this? They confessed their sin and asked Moses to pray to the Lord, interceding on their behalf.

While we cannot know what God’s trying to tell others through their heartaches, we should meet our own hardships by looking for His divine purpose and instruction. Even though it may not make sense, we can trust that the Lord will bring about positive and crucial changes in us through our challenges.