Numbers 21 through Numbers 24 tells the story of Balaam and King Balak. Balak called for Balaam to curse the people of Israel. He was afraid of them because of their numbers and wanted to curse them so that he could conquer them. Balaam sought God on the matter and God told him to only say what He told him to say. The children of Israel were blessed and there was nothing King Balak could do about. There were a number of attempts by Balak to get Balaam, the man of God, to curse the Israelites. What I love about this story is the fact that God does not lie nor does He change His mind. He blessed the Israelites and Balak, try as he would, couldn’t change that. In his attempts to do so, he tried bribing Balaam with his riches. How many of us are asked to turn our backs on God for fame and fortune?
Following is Balaam in one of his conversations with Balak:
Numbers 23:19-21
19)God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried through?
20)Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed and I cannot reverse it!
21)No misfortune is in His plan for Jacob; no trouble in store for Israel. For the Lord their God is with them; He has been proclaimed their king.
When we look at how desperate Balak was to curse the Israelites, he had some knowledge of their power because of God. And, even though he knew this, he still tried to usurp God’s authority. The enemy will use whomever he can to try to keep God’s blessing from you. However, as you see, when you’ve been blessed by God, you have been blessed. God had the Israelites’ back in this story and they didn’t even realize that King Balak was trying to curse them.
And, even when we are not in that perfect place with God, He still loves us. His love is unfailing and unconditional. The Israelites had just had another one of their complaining sessions with the Lord. Once again, Moses went before the Lord regarding them. (By this point in the journey to the Promised Land, Aaron had died. {Numbers 20:29}) And yet again, God delivered. God has been consistent with the Israelites during this journey to the Promised Land. He meant what He said and did what He said.
God has our backs as well. He goes before us and He is our rear guard; even when we don’t realize what we are up against or who is coming against us. We stand in faith because we know that God keeps His promises to us and He is not man that He should lie. He is an all-knowing, all-powerful, present-everywhere God. Who can beat that? When God is for us, who can be against us? Considering the knowledge we receive from the story of the Israelites, how can we not have faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? How can we, in our finite minds, be troubled when things occur that we have no power to change but know the God that does? Does this make you consider that your only real true power is faith?
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