The Second Oracle by Balaam (Num.23:13-26)

2/3/2009 9:45 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The second oracle

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Numbers 23:13-26

            Message of the verses:  “13 ¶  Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."  14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.  15 And he said to Balak, "Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the LORD over there."  16 Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."  17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the LORD spoken?"  18 Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!  19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?  20 “Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.  21  "He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.  22  "God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.  23  "For there is no omen against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel, what God has done!  24  "Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain."  25  Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!"  26  But Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the LORD speaks, that I must do’?’”

            It is interesting that I have come to this subject in Numbers at this time for our Bible Study will begin next week studying about the spiritual battle that all believers face as spoken of in Ephesians 6:10-20, and I have also ordered a book written by Dr. Wiersbe on this subject, “The Strategy of Satan.”  (More on this latter in this SD).

            I guess that it has been hard for me to understand why it was that Balaam was such an evil man because he was being used of God to bless Israel and not curse them, however God looks upon the heart and it seems that Balaam’s heart was to do evil and to make as much money as he could.  Balaam has participated in a number two ceremonies to which offerings were given to gods that were worshiped by Balak and the rest who were with him.  Romans 8:28 tells me that God is so great that even the bad things can be worked out for good by God for those who love Him, and I can see that principle in this story of the evil Balaam trying to curse Israel.

            “The first oracle pictured Israel as a chosen people because of the love of God, and the second oracle presents them as a conquering people because of the faithfulness of God.  God had already given great promises to Israel through Abraham and Jacob  and now Moses and He was not going to go back on His Word even though at times Israel had sinned against the Lord.  “The aim of heather religion was to control the gods and get them to do what the worshipers wanted, whether it was to defeat their enemies or to give abundant harvests.  In bargaining with their gods, the pagan peoples went to all sorts of extremes, even to the point of sacrificing their own children.  This kind of ‘worship’ was forbidden in Israel, because Jehovah is totally unlike the pagan gods.”  (This is a foot note in this chapter of “Be Counted” by Warren Wiersbe.”

           

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have truly been convicted by this statement above, for there have been many times when I have tried to manipulate God into doing things that I wanted Him to do for me.  One of those things was in the investment of our money in Canada for I thought that because I was a good Christian and the people that I was investing in were also good Christians that God had to bless this investment.  That was totally wrong for God surely did not have to bless this investment because of the reasons stated above.  God is God and I am not is how the song goes, and the biggest problem with that investment was that I did not use good wisdom in making that investment, wisdom that came from the pages of Scripture that I choose to ignore. 

            I truly must say that the promise of Romans 8:28 was fulfilled, and is still being fulfilled in all of this as God gave me the extreme privilege of leading some of His chosen ones to Himself, and for that I will ever be thankful.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust that the Lord will show me wisdom from His Word to live my life by each and every day.
2. That I will learn more and more about the Lord each day that I study His Word.
3. That God will direct my path each day.
4. That I will not give up in memorizing Romans 6.

2/3/2009 11:07 AM