Wed.’s Devo - We Are Blessed

Read: Numbers 24:1-25:18; Luke 2:1-35; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 11:14 It was Balaam’s third time to attempt to curse Israel but he had gotten the message that God would only bless Israel so he didn’t go through all his incantations to curse. He just looked out over the tents of Israel and prophesied. He blessed them once more as a nation that devoured all who opposed them. He blessed everyone who blessed them and cursed everyone who cursed them. That made Barak mad since he was in the ones who wanted to curse them! He sent Balaam home without pay. Then Balaam went on to say that out of Israel would rise a star who would crush the heads of Moab’s people and Edom’s. This ruler would destroy the survivors. Then he looked on Amalek and prophesied its demise. Then the Kenites demise. Asshur and Eber would perish also. No one would survive unless the Lord willed it. So, this is how Barak got his curse on Israel. He sent his seductive women into their camp to invite them men to their celebration to their gods. They worshipped the Baal of Peor. Moses ordered the judges to execute the sinners. One of the Israelite men blatantly brought a Midianite woman into his tent in broad daylight. When Phineas saw this he ran into the man’s tent with a spear and ran it all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. This stopped the plague that had already began. The plague killed 24,000. God rewarded Phineas with a promise that his descendants would have a permanent right to the priesthood. He had stood in the gap for the people, cleansing all of them by what he did. The man who was stabbed was named Zimri which means “musical” and the woman’s name was Cozbi which means “false”. That sounds like “false worship” to me. Then the Lord ordered Moses to attack the Moabites because they had tricked them into worshipping their god. In Luke, Caesar decreed a tax from everyone he governed which was almost the whole world. It was surely all of the Roman Empire. Everyone had to pay their taxes in their place of birth and Joseph was from Bethlehem. Mary was nine months pregnant and about to deliver and did as soon as she got there. They placed Jesus in a manger in the stable they were staying in. He was born in a manger which the animals ate from and would end being food for a different kind of animal. God proclaimed his son’s coming out in the fields to a group of shepherds. All the angels of God sang his birth. These lowly shepherds were the first to behold their king. Jesus was taken to his dedication where Simeon, a devout follower of God prophesied over him. He said that he would be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of the Jews. He would also reveal the hearts of many. (He definitely revealed the hearts of the religious leaders.) When the prophetess, Anna saw Jesus she said he was the redemption of all Israel. Mary and Joseph took Jesus back to Nazareth where he grew up. Lord, thank you that a curse without a cause will not alight on us. You have called us blessed and we choose to walk in your blessings.