No judgy
This week is on Numbers 23:7-8:
How many times have we tried to use God for our own witchcraft? "Come on God, get this person for taking my money!" "Make my brothers divide their inheritance with me!" "Destroy our competitors, God!" God isn't our own private army, or some temporary occupying force that can be duped into being our artillery. God knows more than we do, and sometimes he has found no fault with people we have issues with.
Hasn't God found no fault in us despite our faults? He's forgiven us and held off from punishing us for our sin. How could we then ask him to punish someone else for theirs? The Aramites and Moabites were known idolaters, and yet they were calling for God to punish the Israelites, whose sins were relatively mild in comparison. That's not just ignorant, that's "ignant!"
How can we curse those whom God has not cursed? At best it will do nothing, and at worst it'll bring a worse curse on ourselves! If God has let something go, why won't we let it go too? It's God's creation, after all. Think about it.
Don't be quick to denounce others. God died for our sins. It won't do you any good to curse others when it's God's will to bless them. Be thankful for your gift of God's grace by passing it around.
Balak was trying to get Balaam to use God for witchcraft in settling his own private issues with Israel. There were resource contention issues over land and water that he hoped to solve by eliminating Israel. And what better way to do that than to have them be cursed by their own God? Balak was a bit confused.Then Balaam uttered his oracle:
"Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
'Come,' he said, 'curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.'How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced?
How many times have we tried to use God for our own witchcraft? "Come on God, get this person for taking my money!" "Make my brothers divide their inheritance with me!" "Destroy our competitors, God!" God isn't our own private army, or some temporary occupying force that can be duped into being our artillery. God knows more than we do, and sometimes he has found no fault with people we have issues with.
Hasn't God found no fault in us despite our faults? He's forgiven us and held off from punishing us for our sin. How could we then ask him to punish someone else for theirs? The Aramites and Moabites were known idolaters, and yet they were calling for God to punish the Israelites, whose sins were relatively mild in comparison. That's not just ignorant, that's "ignant!"
How can we curse those whom God has not cursed? At best it will do nothing, and at worst it'll bring a worse curse on ourselves! If God has let something go, why won't we let it go too? It's God's creation, after all. Think about it.
Don't be quick to denounce others. God died for our sins. It won't do you any good to curse others when it's God's will to bless them. Be thankful for your gift of God's grace by passing it around.
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