In Numbers 22-24, Balak comes to Balaam and asks him to curse Israel. Three times Balak comes to Balaam. And each time, Balaam blesses Israel rather than curses them. Balak was not happy.
The thing is, Balaam had let Balak know upfront that he could only say what the Lord told him to say. Balak knew that was the deal. Balaam could only curse the Israelites if the Lord allowed it.
The Lord didn’t allow it. In fact, not only could Balaam not curse them, God told him to bless them. Each time. Each time Balak asked for a curse, but instead got a blessing for Israel. Yet Balak kept asking. Apparently, Balak didn’t get it. God’s blessing is certain.
God was blessing Israel. God had blessed Israel. God would continue to bless Israel.
As I read this, I started wondering if Israel “felt” blessed by God. We know God blessed them. But did they feel it? Balak sure didn’t get it. Did Israel get it?
They had been wandering in the wilderness for a long time at this point. They hadn’t entered the Promised Land they had expected. I just really wonder if Israel felt God’s blessing. I’m not so sure they did.
Yet God had blessed them and was blessing them. He wasn’t taking that away.
God saw the truth. “The shout of a king is among them (Numbers 23:21).” Jesus is king and would come out of the line of the Israelites.
Israel saw the present circumstances. They were disappointed, confused, frustrated. They probably felt like they were wasting time and their days. Have you ever felt that way when you’ve taken a step of faith? I know I have, and often do.
It really didn’t matter, though, if in the physical, they were wasting. God was still leading, and would still lead them, regardless of the physical.
And God wastes nothing. He blesses His children. When we follow Him, and we’re walking by faith, even if we mess it up, even if we’re confused about our time and circumstance and what we’re supposed to be doing, God still uses it.
God will use all of it. And He’ll take care of us no matter what. God’s blessing is certain. He doesn’t take it away.
The Lord his [Jacob’s] God is with him…. God brings them out of Egypt. He is for them like the horns of the wild ox. (Numbers 23:21-22)
He brings me out of the world and is faithful to me in the desert. He brings you out of the world and is faithful to you in the desert. God’s blessing.
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, what God has done. Behold, a people rises like a lioness, and as a lion it lifts itself; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey…. (Numbers 23:23-24)
“At the proper time….” Until then, until we see the fruition, we wait. God takes care of us. We bless God. He blesses us by making us more and more like Him in love. He sees us through even the driest, most desolate, discouraging wilderness. He doesn’t take away His blessing.
God is not a man that He should lie…. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
