Gtcotr/ws121521
This past Sunday we discussed God’s plan for mankind and how He entrusted the most important part of His plan to a young unproven girl named Mary from the town of Nazareth. We talked about how once Mary offered her life to God and agreed to trust Him with her future, God fully invested Himself in her. They became partners in the greatest story ever told.
The Christmas account gives only a few details of how God interacted with both Mary and Joseph. It seems they were not given every answer in a way they could fully understand but were rather both encouraged to trust the Lord. We concluded that:
Our future cannot rest on all of the things we do not understand but rather on the one thing we do understand.
What do we understand? We can trust God with our future.
We must not allow the things we do not know to overshadow the things we do know. Like it or not, we live in a world and under a world system that does not acknowledge God. So many men and women strive to gain the things this world has to offer without any consideration of just how temporary and empty those worldly treasures will be in the end.
Many men spend a lifetime denying the vulnerability into which they were born. No one can save themselves. We are all at the mercy of the eternal Creator. Thankfully He is a kind and loving God who sees the end from the beginning and who has made a way for us to live forever with Him.
The Christmas season also reminds us of the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. How that on that night God sent angels to announce the Good News to shepherds who were watching over their flocks of sheep in the fields. The Good News they announced revealed the will of God for all mankind. The angels and a multitude of heavenly host declared:
“Peace on earth and good will towards men.”
This world may be cruel and filled with empty promises however God is good, and His promises will last forever.
About 1450 years before Jesus was born, a prophet named Balaam was hired by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites who were camped on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, across from the city of Jericho. You can read this account in Numbers 22, 23, and 24. Balaam was not a good prophet … he was selfish and greedy but still he was afraid of God.
King Balak, the king of Moab, was not afraid of God but rather he was afraid of Moses and the children of Israel. Partly because there were so many of them and because they had defeated every enemy they had encountered during the past 40 years. Moab represents this current world and the system of this world. A world that feels and acts like they are above the hand of God and not subject to anyone but themselves … a system that believes they can override God’s will with their money and power and never be held to account. A world that does not fear God.
The prophet Balaam was brought to three different vantage points overlooking the Israelites from where the king expected his bribed prophet to perform a curse. However, Balaam was warned by an angel of the Lord to not speak anything except what the Spirit of the Lord told him. Balaam obeyed God even though it enraged the king of Moab. Here are a few things Balaam said during those three encounters.
Numbers 23:8 “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?”
Numbers 23
19 “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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”
Numbers 24
15 So he took up his oracle
and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the
man whose eyes are opened;
16 The utterance of him who
hears the words of God, And has the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees
the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open:”
17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.”
Many
may not realize it and some vehemently deny it however, We are a creation in
need …
·
We
are born to need
·
We
live in need and
· We die with yet the greatest need.
Even the greedy prophet Balaam saw Jesus as the only answer and realized that he would one day defeat this world and destroy His enemies. This too is a part of the continuing Christmas Story.
There are so many things we do not know and cannot understand. However there is one thing we do know and can understand. We can trust God with our future.
The
one common thread running through the characters we see in the Christmas Story
is trust.
·
Mary
was encouraged to trust God …
·
Joseph
was told to trust God …
·
The
shepherds were asked to trust God …
·
The
wise men from the east did not trust Herod but trusted God …
· Even Balaam the prophet was told to not put his trust in money, this world, or the promises of those in power, but rather to trust God.
This is all God is asking of us today … Trust Him!
We must not allow the things we do not understand to overshadow the trust we have in Jesus.
Trust
Him! And do not be afraid!
