GOD DEFENDS

• DAY 279
• FEAR FILE: BALAK AND BALAAM
• SCRIPTURES: NUMBERS 22:7-40

Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’ ” And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

NUMBERS 22:9-12, 20-22

While the enemy plots against the righteous, God doesn’t just sit idly by. In our text today, we read as God defends His people. King Balak sent his messengers to go call Balam the prophet to come and curse the children of Israel but God was not going to let that happen on His watch. First, HE refuses to let him go answer the king but seeing how insistent the king was, God allows Balaam to go with a stern warning not to say anything contrary to what God was saying.

On his way, we read that the angel of the Lord stood before him as an adversary. Can you imagine God sending his angel with a sword to stand in the way of your enemies? The presence of the angel terrified the donkey and had it not spoken, Balaam would have been struck. As if that was not enough, when Balaam eventually got to Moab, God changed the plan of Balak and gave the prophet a blessing and a prophecy 3 times instead of a curse. All these things were happening and the children of Israel had no idea that they even had an attack. They had no idea that a prophet was looking over at them. God was defending them and they did not even know about it.

Unseen Battles

Beloved, if God could open your eyes to see all of the battles that He has fought on your behalf, you would be less afraid. Often, we are afraid of the battles that we do face or the challenges we have experienced. We do not know that God took care of the worst of the battles and averted them. Yet we live in fear because we were given the opportunity to experience an adversary.

Meanwhile, God allowed it on purpose. I believe that God allows things to come to us so that we can learn and grow. If God took away all the problems behind our backs, we wouldn’t grow in faith or learn to trust Him. We wouldn’t have a record of His goodness or evidence of His power. Listen, I want you to know that God is defending you whether you know it or not. He is committed to your defense and your protection. So do not be afraid.

Pray

Take a moment and thank God for the battles He won for you. The things that He averted when you were not paying attention and praise him because you know that that which you have, if you’re even going through all that you have gone through, that that’s one that you have gone through is nothing compared to what he had delivered you from. In Jesus name, Shalom.

In Jesus name, Shalom.