“God is not a man, THAT HE SHOULD LIE, Nor, a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and WILL HE NOT DO IT? Or has He spoken, and WILL HE NOT MAKE IT GOOD?” (Numb. 23:19)
I know that we have been taught that, “…nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) there is more to that statement, for “…it is impossible for God to lie…” (Heb. 6:18)
So, we can be sure that when we read the promises of God WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT THESE PROMISES ARE TRUE! The words in the opening scripture were spoken by Balaam a prophet who was greedy for gold. He was hired by the Moabites to bring a curse upon Israel. He seemed to be a prophet working for profit. But as Balaam was preparing to carry out his assignment, God spoke to him and said,
“Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” (Numb. 22:12)
Balaam ultimately ignored God’s command. Then as he was making his way in disobedience to God, the donkey he was riding refused to go further. So he began to beat the donkey. The Lord opened Balaam’s eyes spiritually, and standing in front of his donkey was an angel with his sword drawn, and he said to Balaam.
“The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now…” (Numb. 22:33)
Now, later Balaam showed (for money of course) the Moabites how to entice the people of God.
“…You have people there who follow the teaching of Balaam. He taught Balak TO LEAD THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL INTO SIN. So, they ate food that had been offered to statues of gods. And they committed sexual sins.” (Rev. 2:14)
Many other writers in the bible referred to this enticement to commit sin and that is why Jude warns us:
“…to stand up for the faith… Certain people have slipped in among you in secret…They use the grace of our God as an excuse for sexual sins…They rushed ahead and made the same mistake as Balaam did. They did it because they loved money…Dear friends, BUILD YOURSELVES UP IN YOUR MOST HOLY FAITH. Let the Holy Spirit guide and help you when you pray…GIVE PRAISE TO THE ONE WHO IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING INTO SIN. He will bring you into his heavenly glory without any fault.
He will bring you there with GREAT JOY.” (Jude 1:3,4,11,20,24)
Let’s build ourselves up in our most Holy faith with great joy…Bill Stockham