Praise the Lord! Warm Christian greetings to all of our SftW family members and friends and colleagues and well-wishers and everyone else in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! The Lord God has been good to us during the past week as He does always. Even though time to time we face trials and troubles in our life, He kept us safe and secure during such situations as we took our spiritual journey with Him. All these shows that God is good and He is faithful!

The Lord has blessed us with a very instructive and explanatory Scripture passage for our SftW meditation, which is taken from Numbers 23:19 (mentioned above). The context of this passage is that Balak son of Zippor the king of Moab summons Balaam son of Beor, a non-Israelite prophet/diviner, to curse the Israelites who had traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho as Moab and Midian were filled with dread because of the Israelites (Numbers 22:1-6). Though Balaam was summoned by Balak to curse the Israelites, he blessed them instead of cursing them as he received the command from the Lord, saying, I have received a command to bless; he [God] has blessed, and I cannot change it (Numbers 23:20). Balaam said out loud to Balak king of Moab: Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill (Numbers 23:18-19). The passage tells us that God is sovereign and He is trustworthy. God is able to protect and provide for His people even in the midst of evil people and evil situations. God, being compassionate and faithful, never changes rather He accomplishes all that He purposed to be carried out. God will definitely fulfill all that He promised to those who follow Him faithfully.

The Scripture points out that the plans and purposes of God stand firm forever, as it is stated: The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations (Psalm 33:11). God spoke through prophet Isaiah, as He swore: Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen … For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back (Isaiah 14:24, 27). Elsewhere Isaiah mentioned as God spoke through him, saying: I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please’ (Isaiah 46:10). In connection with God’s plans and purposes stand firm among human race and among rest of God’s creations in the universe, God said: As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11). Job also testified about God’s plans and purposes in his life in connection with the trials and troubles he went through in life and God’s reward in his life as he overcame such trials and troubles patiently, saying:

He [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. But He [God] stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him (Job 23:10-15).

God neither failed to fulfill all that He purposed in the universe nor gave up on what He promised to His people. We can understand from studying the Word of God that the Lord God fulfilled almost everything He promised to the humanity, especially to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all those who follow Him faithfully. This being said, we can believe that all the promises of God that are remaining to be fulfilled will definitely be fulfilled by the time Christ returns or those will be fulfilled when Christ return and establish God’s Kingdom – the everlasting Kingdom.

As Balaam realized that God is against his plan of cursing the Israelites as Balak king of Moab invited him to do so, he could not curse them rather he blessed them as God directed him to do so. Who knows Balaam might have learned some crucial lessons during such situation that God is not like any human being who changes their plans and purposes every now and then (Job 14:1-2; Psalm 144:4; Isaiah 40:6-8); and God will neither leave His people alone nor forsake them utterly. In fact, God would correct and punish their failures and fulfill His purpose regarding them (Deuteronomy 20:1, 4; 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5, 9; Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:6-7; Revelation 3:19). He learned the lesson and declared to Balak that God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill (Numbers 23:19). Ultimately, Balaam blessed the people whom God had chosen while denouncing the demand of Balak king of Moab [which was to curse the Israelites so that he can defeat them] and denying the reward he was offered by Balak who brought him to curse the Israelites.

Dear friends in the Lord, as we conclude our this week’s SftW meditation, let us know the reality that even when His chosen people rebelled and sinned against Him, God did not abandon them rather He allows them to go through the punishment as their failures require and He still love them and bring them back to the fold. This is what exactly Jesus did for us – while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, as Apostle Paul stated:   

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5:8-11).

Let us be grateful and thankful to God for all that He does for us in life. Also, let us love and serve Him faithfully. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!