Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
"So the Moabite princes returned to Balak and said, "Balaam refused to come with us." Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said:
"This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me."
But Balaam answered them, "Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the Lord will tell me." Numbers 22:14-18
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 22 began, you'll remember that Israel is gathered outside of Moab as they continue their desert wandering. They had already been victorious in several clashes with communities before Moab and the Moabites were rightfully anxious. Would they be next?
Not if their king, Balak, could help it. He felt that the way to stop Israel would be to manipulate their god, not seeing that this was impossible because Israel had the one and only God on their side. So Balak sends for the renowned divinator, Balaam, and through his messengers, asks Balaam to place a curse on Israel.
After the messengers bring the proposal to Balaam, he makes contact with not just any god as he expects but God himself who commands Balaam to not carry out a curse on Israel because they were a blessed people. Further. God tells Balaam to not go with those that Balack sent. Balaam is faithful and obedient to God's command and he sends the king's representatives back to Balack with the report that Balaam "refused to come with us".
Picking up on this with today's scripture, notice that Balak doesn't take no for an answer. Instead, he "sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first" and they "came to Balaam and said":
"This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me."
Notice that Balak tries to tempt Balaam with the promise of reward first followed by power al this proceeded by the command to "not let anything keep you from coming to me"…not anything including a god that was leading Israel. But as we know, Balaam had spoken with God and had this reply to the second request:
"Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God."
Balaam's words are words for all of us to live by as Satan tries to tempt us today. For he is always trying to entice us away from the principles and commands of God…and way too often, we fall prey to his antics and fail in our call to be obedient.
As we examine Balaam, we see where he was standing on his own strength and this would soon cause him troubles. So how can we still stand firm and strong against Satan's advances? How can we stay ever faithful to God's expectations and commands?
The answer can be found by looking at God's Son Jesus and how He handles Satan. For after 40 days and nights without food in the wilderness, Jesus, in His weakest state is approached by Satan. Three times, Satan tried to tempt Jesus as follows:
1. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Matthew 4:3)
2. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " (Matthew 4:5-6)
3. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9)
And after each temptation, Jesus stood up strong against Satan despite Him being physically tired and hungry. How did He do it? With the power of the Word of God. Consider His three responses:
1. Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " (Matthew 4:4 from Deuteronomy 8:3)
2. Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' " Matthew 4:7 from Deuteronomy 6:16)
3. Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " (Matthew 4:10 from Deuteronomy 6:13)
So what was the end result of Jesus' tactic against Satan. Scripture tells us that "the devil left him, and angels came and attended him". (Matthew 4:11)
Friends, Jesus came, lived and died to save us from our sins but He also came to teach us how to live life. We need only follow His lead as we seek to learn how to deal with the challenges that will come before us. In this case, Jesus shows us how to deal with Satan's temptations. The key is to use the Word of God but you can only do that if you know it. This why daily bible study is crucial not only to our faith development but also our Christian walk. And it's a privilege to be used by God in a way that I feel equips believers to stand armed against Satan and his temptations. I pray that you are fed daily by His word so you can stand strong against the evil one when he approaches you.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment