Know God?

Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.” [Numbers 23.27]

As I have remarked before, there is probably more to this story than what is seen here. There are just some things that are recorded that seem to have gaps of information missing. This is not unusual for ancient manuscripts. However, we have enough information in Numbers (today's reading) and elsewhere to understand the general direction of the story. We know that, regardless how innocent Balaam seems in what is read today, he was only partially as good as he looked.

That said, my point of discussion today is Balak. The scripture reference noted above is indicative of a man who had no understanding whatsoever of the relationship between God and Israel. Over and over Balaam told Balak that he could only speak what God said about Israel, but Balak apparently did not get it.

What this says to me today is that we need to understand the tendency in ourselves to 'not get it' when considering things of God. This is particularly evident in our treatment of others.

If we truly understood God's love for mankind, evidenced in His protected relationship with Israel and their role in the Advent of Jesus, then the way we treat others would certainly look like the way Jesus treated people.

We simply must not misunderstand God's purpose in Jesus! He came to earth to show us plainly what God thinks about mankind and how He intends for us to treat mankind.

It starts with love (for God so loved the world...) but it manifests in...

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]

The fact that we do not operate in the same defined ministry as Jesus (above) is evidence that we do not know God like we think we do! Just like Balak, we 'think' we know something about God and His relationship with the world, but our actions say otherwise.

Father, I am once again indicted greatly here. Please forgive me for living my life according to my definition of Christianity instead of Your's.