They are Blessed
Num. 22-24
The LORD led the Israelites out of Egypt, but they wandered in the wilderness for a very long time. To the Israelites, their ordeal was a harrowing one, and they grumbled, like all humans do. But they were never in need. They were given food when they hunger, and water when they thirst. But the Israelites never knew the full extent of God’s love for them. They could not see the bigger picture – God was leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey.
They had defeated many enemies on the way, and they had just vanquished the king of Sihon, Bashan, Amorites and other kings of Canaan. They had almost come to the promised land, and were settled on the plains of Moab.
The Moabites had also seen them, putting up their tents and covering the face of the earth, and they were afraid. Their king Balak summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites. But the LORD told Balaam, “You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (Ex. 22:12).
Three times, Balak asked Balaam to curse the Israelites; and three times, Balaam blessed them. Even when Balak became angry, Balaam said, “How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?… Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it… For there is not enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel…” (Num. 23:8, 20, 23).
Then, Balaam said, “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters” (Num. 24:5-6), and continued, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (Num. 24:9).
The Israelites did not know all these things.
Now, let us look at the following points and think about how God loves His people and how He guards them always:
- God looks after His people, even without their knowledge. He never leads them to their deaths.
- But the Israelites did not see or acknowledge this love of God. In fact, they grumble and whine about the circumstances they were in as they looked back at the times they were in captivity. They did not know that they were “blessed.”
- Today, believers are also going through the same things the Israelites did; and God continues to love His people and protects them.
- Even when we did not know it, God must have done a lot of things for us – protecting us from enemies and from the evil one. The Psalmist says, “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me” (Ps. 3:5). Let us think about this for a while.
- Instead, we whine all the time. We grumble about what we are going through, we grumble about our circumstances and little sufferings.
Even though we may suffer, or have hardships, let us remember that the hand of God is never short (cf Is. 59:1) and that He never sleeps and never weakens.
Therefore, let us get up, trust in the LORD, doing what we are supposed to do, and move onwards.
It’s not only them who are blessed, we are blessed too, in Christ.
And so, instead of dwelling only on our sufferings and hardships, let us remember that we are moving ever forwards to the promised land with God guiding and protecting us throughout the way.