27/3/18 – Numbers 22:21-41, Numbers 23:1-26 – Luke 6:37-49, Luke 7:1-10 – Psalm 37:32-40

Num 23:11-12

And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Balaam was sent to curse the children of Israel. But he couldn’t do it because God wouldn’t let Him. It’s a powerful thing to be on God’s side. Who can stand against Him? Nobody, that’s who!

We don’t need to be afraid of the powers of darkness or any curse a person can bring. Because God is bigger. It just won’t do for Christians to be afraid of people putting things on them or to feel that they must accept any spiritual attack. God is there to make a stand for His people. Balaam could not curse Israel and nobody can curse you, those curses are to be turned to blessings! Never forget, as a child of God, you can face any to tries to cure you or harm you knowing this: your dad is bigger than their dad.

By the way, I can’t leave this section without making some comment on the talking donkey. Did you know Donkeys cannot talk?

Me too.

The writer of Numbers and the Jewish people also know that. They weren’t stupid. So the fact that this is included means something really out of the ordinary happened.

God will do the impossible to protect His children. And He can even use a donkey. If God can use a donkey to do the impossible He can certainly use you.

Luke 6:39-40

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

What a great image Jesus shared here. It’s funny (don’t tell me people didn’t at the least chuckle when He said it) and is a very good point.

How can we lead someone when we don’t know the route ourselves? It’s important to be trained before we train others. It’s when we think we know it all that we make the most mistakes.

If you are expecting people to follow your training without you having following a teacher, what are you teaching people to follow? You’ll both fall down a hole…

First this applies in church life. We need to be teachable. Don’t assume you know more than those who teach, but in humility learn from them. (Of course make sure it lines up with the word).

It’s very easy to sit back on a Sunday and judge the message and if it fits with what you think… but we’d all be far better off listening to see what we can learn.

If we had less pride in how we listen to the word it would have a much greater effect on us. When we come under authority of Godly leadership it has to be more than lip service, but a humble agreement to follow and trust them, otherwise the first time you disagree with them you’ll just find it easier to leave the church than deal with it, because it was a submission of convenience rather than anything deeper.

That happens too much.

Second, this applies to our relationship with Christ. He is the ultimate teacher. He will always be above us – and He’s never done teaching us. That means no matter how much you learn or grow there is still more to come. You can never get to the point where Jesus runs out of things to teach you, so you can never not have a teachable spirit and you can never stop learning.

Luke 6:46

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 

There’s a statement that could apply to far too much of the church today. We cannot call him Lord and ignore what He has told us to do.

That’s hypocrisy.

That’s not true faith in Christ. We don’t get to make the rules, He does. We don’t get to rewrite them to fit with our culture’s current opinions. We don’t get to ignore sin because people like doing it.

Building in the rock is not building on Jesus or even the words of Jesus. It’s building on hearing His words and then doing them. Hearing is not enough. Faith needs action or it is not real.

Ps 37:39-40

The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

The LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

As I was writing this, a song came on in the background. It was “Surrounded” by Micheal W. Smith. One of the lines in it said this: “It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by you.”

The Lord is our stronghold in times of trouble. Does that mean trouble won’t come? No, but it means he’s there when it does. The Lord helps us and delivers us because He is our refuge.

Don’t look at the troubles, look at the one who holds you in His arms.