Glory to God! The Lord has kept us all safe and secure so far in life and He promised us that He will continue to be with us and care for our lives. It is our assurance that the Lord God will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5). God also promised through prophet Isaiah that He will care for His people even in their old age, as it is mentioned: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you (Isaiah 46:4). So, let us take heart that the Lord God is with us and He will keep us and sustain us and fill us with His everlasting peace and joy and strength no matter what life-situations we go through.

The Lord has blessed us with a prophetic and very promising Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from the book of Numbers 24:15-17a. This passage is part of the prophetic utterances made by Balaam son of Beor regarding the people of Israel who were passing through the plains of Moab following their deliverance from the bondage in Egypt under Moses’ leadership upon God’s command. God, being the promise keeper and true deliverer, was the One who guided and led them throughout their journey from Goshen Egypt [perhaps the place name changed to Rameses in the course of time / refer to: Genesis 46:28-34; Exodus 12:37; Numbers 33:1-3] up until the plains of Moab where they camped along the Jordan across from Jericho (Numbers 22:1; 33:48-50). Ever since the Israelites started from Egypt, the Lord, the God of their fathers, had been with them in and through every life-circumstances of their, which means, the Lord’s presence was with them at all times, His protection was upon their lives when an enemy threatened them, and His provision was for them always. The Lord led them through straight and smooth paths and crooked and rough paths; flat lands and rugged lands; plains and mountainous terrains; hills and valleys; and so on. They also experienced good days and bad days; peaceful days and dreadful days; abundance and scarcity; and so intermittently.

In the earlier part of their journey, though there were not any written codes or laws for them to follow at that time, them Lord spoke to them through His servant Moses and a few others and the entire community did everything based on the timely messages they received from the Lord their God. One of the important things to notice here is that during their travel from Egypt to Canaan, the Lord did not allow them to make war against any nations they pass through. Yet, they were not afraid nor did they run away from their enemies but resisted and defeated every nation that opposed them and fought against them to destroy them and every time God gave them victory over their enemies. In fact, the Lord was the One who fought for the Israelites and gave them victory (refer to: 2 Chronicles 20:15; Proverbs 20:22; Romans 12:19); and rescued them from every enemy that came against them in the same way God rescued the future generations of Israelites from their enemies like David who testified, saying: He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me (Psalm 18:17). Similarly, we the God’s people are also called not to hate or fight against anyone rather we are commanded and instructed to love everyone around us including our enemies and care for them, as Jesus taught His disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). Apostle Paul also reminded the believers in Rome from the book of proverbs (25:21), saying: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head (Romans 12:20; also refer to: Exodus 23:4-5). Also, elsewhere Apostle Paul stated: Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else (1 Thessalonians 5:15; also refer to: Romans 12:17; 1 Peter 3:9).

When all the nations and its inhabitants heard everything the Lord had been doing in behalf of the Israelites, they were all afraid and terrified of the Israelites, especially when they heard all that happened (i) to Pharaoh and his army who chased the Israelites to destroy them following their release from Egypt (Exodus 14:5-31); (ii) to the Amalekites who came out to fight and destroy them (Exodus 17:8-16); (iii) to Sihon king of the Amorites (Numbers 21:21-32); (iv) to Og king of Bashan and his whole army who marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei (Numbers 21:33-35); and so on. Following all those incidents, the Israelites traveled through the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho (Numbers 22:1). When Balak son of Zippor king of Moab saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, he and the people of Moab were terrified and filled with dread (Numbers 22:2-4). As a result, Balak summoned prophet Balaam son of Beor, a prophet who is a native of Pethor near the Euphrates River to curse the Israelites, so that he can defeat them and drive them out of the land (Numbers 22:5-6). Though God permitted Balaam [a double-minded seer who work for God as well as for money / refer to: 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11; Revelation 2:14] to go to Balak [a self-seeking and fearful and terrified king], the Lord commanded him, saying Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you (Numbers 22:20), which means, the Lord God sternly warned Balaam not to speak anything against the Israelites or cast a curse on them. In reality, every word Balaam spoke towards the Israelites for the first two times described the realities of the present generation of Israelites as he pronounced the words of blessings instead of the words that inflicting harm or danger to them (Numbers 23:7-10, 18-26; 24:2-9). During the third time, Balaam not only described the realities of the present generation of Israelites but also the realities that are going to take place thereafter and pronounced the words of blessings for the future generation of Israel (24:2-9). As Balaam continued his prophetic sayings regarding the Israelites, especially during his fourth oracle, he talked about the absolute deliverer coming out of the nation of Israel in the line of Judah. As we study the Scripture from beginning [Genesis] till the end [Revelation], we can understand that the absolute deliverer would be the Messiah [the Christ] who would redeem and restore and bless the Israelites as well as the rest of humanity (refer to: Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; 9:2-7; 11:1-10; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 1:22-23; Revelation 22:16). The star and the scepter mentioned in Numbers 24:17a represents the Messiah’s divine glory and His sovereign royal authority as the anointed King who would establish an everlasting Kingdom and reign for ever and ever (refer to: Genesis 49:10; Psalm 45:6; Daniel 7:14; Matthew 2:1-7; Luke 1:33; Hebrews 1:8; Revelation 11:15).

Dear friends in the Lord, as we conclude our meditation this week, let us know the reality that God used a pagan prophet like Balaam to foretell about the coming of Messiah [the Lord’s Anointed – the King of kings and Lord of lords] from the nation of Israel in the line of Judah even before the nation of Israel itself was established in Canaan. Prior to His birth in to the human world, the archangel Gabriel again foretold what kind of King He would be, as Luke stated He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end (Luke 1:32-33). In the light of what we learned from this meditation, let us submit our life to Him and hold on to Him for He is alone able to (i) deliver us from the trials and struggles of this present life; (ii) redeem us from bondage of [sin and] death – the greatest enemy that exist in the world; and (iii) save us and give us a glorified life to live with Him for ever and ever in eternity! May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!