God Never Changes!! {Numbers 22- 25:18 }
10:30 PM
As we read today’s chapters we find the king of Moab,
Balak in great fear of Israel because he
has heard of the victories God has given His people as they continue on the
move to conquer Canaan. So he sends messengers to Balaam, someone whom he
trusted could help him out by cursing the people of Israel (Num. 22:5-6)
Balaam was known as a
mighty man in spiritual things. As far as Balak was concerned, when Balaam
cursed or blessed a man or a people, it came to pass. Balaam knew God and His Power, but relied more on
worldly wisdom, fooling himself rather than following God’s precepts. (“21 For even though [d]they knew God
[as the Creator], they did not [e]honor Him as
God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation].On the
contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless
reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Claiming
to be wise, they became fools,” (Ro. 1:21-22)
God was clear
in His command to Balaam: “12 God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people [of Israel], for
they are blessed.” (22:12)
Since the king Balak
insisted and offered presents for Balaam’s service, Balaam felt the need to seek
God again, even though God’s will was clear both from his moral conscience
(which troubled him from the beginning) and from the clear revelation of God.
Something that stood out to me was this next verse: “20 God came to Balaam at night and said to
him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them, but you
shall still do only what I tell you.” (22:22) We could ask
ourselves why this happened… God did not change His mind. Since God had
clearly declared His will, and Balaam had decisively rejected it, now God
prepared Balaam up for judgment: to test and reveal the wickedness of Balaam's
heart!!
Have you ever prayed to God for something and received a “no” for an answer? What was your reaction? Did you accept His
will or did you complain and/or question?
Paul encourages us in Phillipians 2: 14-16
: “4 Do everything without murmuring or questioning [the
providence of God], 15 so that you may prove
yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated,
children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and
[spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights
[beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness], 16 holding
out and offering to everyone the word of life, so that in the
day of Christ I will have reason to rejoice greatly because I did not run [my
race] in vain nor labor without result.”
God says "no" to the prayers of His people,
because He loves them. He as our Heavenly Father knows best!! But also, sometimes God says "yes"
to the desires of the wicked, because He will judge them!!
2 Peter 2:15-16 speaks of Balaam and his love of
money, using him as an example of later false prophets: “15 Abandoning the straight road [that is, the
right way to live], they have gone astray; they have followed the way of [the
false teacher] Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of
wickedness; 16 but he was rebuked for his own
transgression: a mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the
prophet’s madness.” (Num 22:22-35)
“Men change their
minds, and break their words; but God never changes his mind, and therefore
never recalls his promise. And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it does
not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way. There was sin in
Jacob, and God saw it; but there was not such as might provoke him to give them
up to ruin. If the Lord sees that we trust in his mercy, and accept of his
salvation; that we indulge no secret lust, and continue not in rebellion, but
endeavor to serve and glorify him; we may be sure that he looks upon us as
accepted in Christ, that our sins are all pardoned. Oh the wonders of
providence and grace, the wonders of redeeming love, of pardoning mercy, of the
new-creating Spirit!” M. Henry
Balaam had done his best to curse Israel,
(Num. 23-24) but was unsuccessful, because God’s spirit would speak blessings
for His people through him!
In Revelation 2:14 we find the connection
between Balaam's unsuccessful attempt to curse Israel and the following events
in Num. 25:“14 But I have a few things against you,
because you have there some[among you] who are holding to
the [corrupt] teaching of Balaam, who taught [a]Balak to put
a stumbling block before the sons of Israel,[enticing them] to eat things
that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of sexual] [b]immorality.”
(AMP)
Since Balaam failed to curse Israel, he suggested to
Balak: "I cannot curse these people. But you can get them to curse
themselves through enticing them to rebel against their God. Send your
prettiest girls among them, and tell them to entice the men of Israel to
immorality and idolatry." And it worked!!
We find this same reference in Num. 31:15-16 “Moses
said to them, “Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam's
advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in
the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the
Lord”
Balaam, through his wicked counsel to Balak, got what
he wanted, but he also ended up dead among the enemies of God (Num. 31:7-8). He
only enjoyed his money for a short time. God will not be mocked!! (Gal. 6:7)
Lord God Almighty,
help me remember who you are and who I am before you: a rebel who has been
granted pardon by the mercy of a King, and an orphan who has been adopted by
the love of a Father (iWorship
Bible)
Blessings,
Mari
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