Excerpt
Sometimes the hardest problems in life are answered with the simplest solutions. The challenge is not the solution—it is whether we are willing to accept it.
Intro
As I reflected this past month, I realized how often I complicate things that are meant to be simple. In the scriptures, the story of the brass serpent is one of the clearest reminders that healing, both physical and spiritual, often comes through simple acts of faith.
Notes from the Scriptures
As the children of Israel journeyed near the land of Edom, they complained along the way. Because of their murmuring, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6).
Moses sought the Lord on behalf of the people, and the answer he received was unexpected. “Make thee a fiery serpent,” the Lord commanded, “and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Moses obeyed, “and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:8-9).
At first glance, the solution seems straightforward. Yet Nephi later revealed an important truth: “The labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41). The difficulty was not in the act itself, but in accepting something so simple.
Alma later taught that the brass serpent was a symbol of the Son of God. However, “few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts.” Many “would not look,” not because they couldn’t, but because “they did not believe that it would heal them” (Alma 33:20).
This pattern mirrors the mindset of Laman and Lemuel. When asked if they had prayed, they replied, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9). Doubt prevented action.
Alma then invited the people with a simple but powerful question: “If ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly?” He urged them to “cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (Alma 33:21-22).
He later reinforced the same principle: “The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever” (Alma 37:46).
Nephi, generations later, made the connection even clearer: “As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come… even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith… might live, even unto that life which is eternal” (Helaman 8:14-15).
The Savior Himself confirmed this truth: “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).
Perspective (direct quotes)
“The labor which they had to perform was to look.”
“And because of the simpleness of the way… there were many who perished.”
“They did not believe that it would heal them.”
“Cast about your eyes and begin to believe.”
Practice (today, not someday)
Today, I will not overcomplicate what God has made simple.
I will act, even when I do not fully understand.
I will choose faith over doubt, even when the solution seems too easy.
I will look up—toward Christ—rather than around for alternatives.
Final Reflection
The brass serpent reminds me that the issue is rarely the solution. The issue is whether I am willing to trust it. Healing is available, but it requires humility. It requires action. And sometimes, it requires doing something so simple that pride resists it.
Pocket I’m Keeping
“Don’t ignore simple solutions.”
What I Hear Now (direct quotes)
“If ye could be healed… would ye not behold quickly?”
“The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.”
Link to the talk/scriptures
Numbers 21:6–9
1 Nephi 17:41
Alma 33:20–22
Alma 37:46
Helaman 8:14–15
John 3:14–15
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