Wed.’s Devo - Fighting their Enemies 3-4-15

Read: Numbers 21-22
Yesterday we read that the children of Israel asked the king of Edom if they could pass through their land and he refused. So Israel had to go the long way which took them to the south. A Canaanite king, Arab had heard about the spies that spied out his land so he came and fought Israel and took some of them captive. God helped the Israelites defeat them and take their cities. They are back to where they started at the Red Sea and once again they are without bread and water and they are tired of manna - God’s provision. So God sent them poisonous snakes to discipline them. When the people repented and asked Moses to ask God to take them away, God told Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole. This pole was in the shape of a cross. All who looked upon the snake would live. The snakes were the curse. Jesus became the curse who died upon a cross and when we look at Him to save us we are saved.
They continued on their wanderings and came to the land of the Amorites. They, like the Edomites, refused to let them pass through there land. They came out to fight the Israelites but were defeated and Israel took all their cities. Their king was Sihon whose name means “tempestuous”. These kings and cities represent principalities and ground respectively. So this principality looks like anger to me. They took the land from Arnon to Jabbok. Arnon means “a brawling stream” which represents physical fights and Jabbok means “pouring forth” which represents unrestrained anger. The king’s city was Heshbon which means “reason”. Human reasoning can cause the greatest debates.
As the Israelites continue they come to the Moabites. Their leader or principality is Balak which means “a waster”. What a great definition of the devil? He sends for Balaam to curse the people. Balaam’s name means “a swallower of the people”. He was a occultist con. He can’t violate the spiritual authority of God so he has to follow God’s commands even though he is a false prophet. God don’s allow him to curse them, he is only allowed to bless them. One of the things that stands out to me in the Balaam’s donkey story is that Balaam is never surprised that his donkey is talking to him. It is because he is involved in witchcraft so he is used to seeing the unordinary. I wonder if his donkey had ever talked to him before this. God even stood up for the donkey and rebuked Balaam for striking it. It think God was trying to humble Balaam and show him that if the almighty God would speak through a donkey, Balaam’s position was no more important than this donkey’s. It was God’s word that was important.
Lord, may we always remember that You chose who You want to bless and it is a privilege and a reponsibility to be used by you. Use us today.