– A Blessed People
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Numbers 23-24 and Psalm 108 (NIV)
(Kenneth Lim, Core Team Member, SGM)
READ:
Numbers 23-24 and Psalm 108 (NIV)
OBSERVE:
Numbers 23-24: Prior to the events of Numbers 23-24, Balak, the king of Moab, summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites who were entering Moab and who Balak feared would destroy Moab. However, in Numbers 23-24, Balak instead blesses the Israelites, responding that he can only do and say what God commands.
Psalm 108: In Psalm 108, David praises God (v. 1-5) and asks for His deliverance (v. 6, 12) in the midst of seeming rejection (v. 11), citing God’s promises to conquer his enemies (including Moab) (v.7-9).
APPLY:
As I read through the book of Numbers, I’m struck by the tension between God’s desire for Israel to be a blessed people on the one hand, and Israel’s consistent (and worsening) rebellion on the other. The whole first ten chapters of Numbers contain rule after rule about what Israel needs to do to keep holy and pure. But once they set out into the wilderness in chapter 11, things went terribly: the Israelites grumble about not having enough meat and wanting to go back to Egypt; there is infighting at the highest levels of their leadership; and when they are finally at the very border of the Promised Land, they refuse to go in!
It is right that God responds to Israel in each of these episodes with righteous judgement, but at this point in the book of Numbers, I can’t help but wonder: is there any hope for unfaithful people to be as holy and blessed as God promises they can be?
In Numbers 23-24, the answer God gives is yes. Far from being done with the Israelites, God affirms, through the very agent that had been engaged to curse His people, that the Israelites are a blessed people indeed! It is no wonder then that David is able, so many years later in the story of God’s covenant people, to call on God’s rescue in faith, even in the midst of experiencing rejection.
I’ve had the privilege of being part of my small group’s core team for many years now. It’s the same small group I’ve been in since it started in Youth Ministry 17 years ago. As with the story of the Israelites, I constantly think about whether our small group, as a small part of God’s larger church, can live up to the vision of God’s community expressed in His Word. As a child of God purchased by the blood of His Son, I should trust in what God says His church is and will be. Even more, shouldn’t I, as a child of God purchased by Jesus’ blood, trust in His promises for His church now and in the future?
DO:
Like Balaam, I want to affirm, to each of my small group members and to all of my brothers and sisters in Wesley, that we are God’s children, even in the midst of our struggles and wrestling with Him. Like David, I will cry out to God for rescue, trusting that what God has promised, He is faithful to deliver. And like the history of believers that have come before me, I will continue to strive to live a life holy and pleasing to God and consistent with who God says I am: His child.
PRAY:
Dear God, thank You that You have called us to be Your chosen people and that You have redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me to see my brothers and sisters in Christ the way You see them, and help me to hold fast to the identity that I have in You, not turning this way or that, but living a life that is consistent with who You have called me to be in Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
