That anthem by Farrant uses words from Psalm 25, a prayer for God to give mercy now as He did in times of old:

'Call to remembrance, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving kindness, which hath been ever of old.'

Many people have known a touch of God on their lives in the past. For some it is a clear and unequivocal experience, and fires them up for a long time to come. For others their experience of God is less definite and less easy to define. For most of us, though, we are more likely to turn to God when we need Him. That is the truth of human nature. If we are in difficulty and need rescuing or a sense of direction, it is natural to pray. We turn to God most readily when we need Him.

This is what the Children of Israel did. Their life in Egypt had become oppressive and unbearable. They cried to God to rescue them, and He did. They experienced the extraordinary events which saw thousands leave Egypt, against the King's wishes, cross the Red Sea and then provided for in the wilderness through that strange flaky food nicknamed 'Manna'.  At the point we heard about them in our first lesson, they were out of danger. And although they were safer and more comfortable, they were dissatisfied.  They spoke against God and Moses, their leader. '‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Poison had entered their thinking and led to resentments and bitterness. Just as the serpent had stirred up trouble in the Garden of Eden, suggesting to Adam and Eve that God was giving them His very best, and so making them dissatisfied, so the serpents here represent that same poison; it enters their thinking and is expressed on their lips. God HAS been at work and helped us in the past, but He could do better. What they didn't realise is that this was a time of testing. Later in their Scriptures they are reminded that God used the wilderness time to test them, to humble them, to prepare them for the responsibilities of settled existence in Canaan.

When WE are faced with hardships, we can resent them and complain and wave a fist at God, and allow the poison of bitterness to enter us. Or we can say: 'God, what is it you are teaching me through this struggle? I don't like this challenge, Lord, but help me to trust that it can be used to shape me after your will.' Sadly, this is not what the Israelites did, and the poison did what poison does, it killed some of them. So God, in His love and mercy, steps in. And Moses is told to make a bronze serpent, set it up on a pole, so that whoever looked on that in faith, would be saved from death. The very thing which poisoned them is set up and publicly exposed. It is as though God takes the very thing which caused their suffering and makes it the means of their salvation. This of course prefigures Christ. 'Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.' Jesus, on the cross becomes an accursed thing for us, so that through Him we may be rescued.'

Lent is a time to check our grumbles and complaints; a time to think about any resentments we hold, against God or others. And as we become aware of them, we look up, not at a bronze serpent, but at the Cross. We confess our weaknesses, our fondness for comfort and ease, and confess the sins which poison us and need healing. And as we look up at the Cross we are released, and invited to live once again. May God have mercy on us and save us. Let us pray...