Mon.’s Devo - A New Season

Read: Numbers 21:1-22:20; Luke 1:26-56; Psalm 57:1-11; Proverbs 11:9-11 As the people of Israel got closer to their promised land, the warfare became more and more intense. It is obvious that Satan does not want to let them succeed and take over his territory. In the Negev, they were attacked by the king of Arad who took some of them prisoner. The Israelites vowed to God that if he would hand these people over to them they would completely destroy all their towns. God agreed and they took it. Because they had to go the long way, the people started complaining. God sent poisonous snakes that bit and killed many of them. The people repented and came to Moses for help. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and anyone who was bitten by the snakes had only to look at it and be healed. They traveled through many names but two that I found interesting were Nahaleil and Bamoth. They meant from the valley of God to the heights of Baal. They saw it all. They sent ambassadors to the king of Sihon to ask if they could peaceably pass through their land. He refused and mobilized to attack them. God gave his people victory and they captured and settled into their cities. Heshbon was Sihon’s capital which means “devise and reason”. The Amorites had captured it from the Moabites and now the Israelites possessed it. Next they came to King Og of Bashan. God told them not to be afraid because he had handed them to them just like the king of Sihon. Bashan means “shame and the one in sleep”. They defeated King Og and killed him and all his sons and subjects and they occupied his land. Next, they came to the land across from Jericho. The Jordan stood between them and Jericho. Barak, the Moabite king had seen all they had done to the Amorites and knew that he couldn’t defeat them with military strength so he would have to defeat them with black magic. He hired Balaam a known sorcerer to curse the Israelites. God warned Balaam that he better not go with the king because He had not cursed Israel but blessed them. Balaam wisely told the king of Barak that all the gold in the world would not pay for him to go against the word of the Lord. Barak was not giving up. He sent more distinguished soldiers and appealed to Balaam’s ego. Balaam told them he would go ask God again. God told him he could go but he could only say what He told him to say. In Luke, Mary is visited by Gabriel and told that she would have a baby and he would be the Messiah. She was to name him Jesus and her aunt, Elizabeth was in her 6th month of pregnancy. People called her barren but the word of God will never fail. The Jewish people felt barren. They had waited for centuries for the promised Messiah as they were abused and oppressed by the Roman government. Now barren wombs were being opened because it was the birth of a new season. We are getting so close to the end of this madness in our land so the warfare is getting more intense. As we bring down the strongholds of reason and “science” and lies, we can expect great opposition. But, we can remember that the Word of the Lord never fails. Thank you Lord for your promises for our nation, our families and ourselves. We stand on the truth. Thank you that we are on the brink of a new season.