March 16
Num 24:1-25:18 | PS 59:1-17 | Prov 11:14 | Luke 2:1-35
I start off this morning like most every other. After a short prayer that God would open my eyes, I open my Bible, start reading, take notes, and assemble my post. It is a beautiful portion of my day in which I feel the Holy Spirit's presence and His movement. After this quiet time with the Lord, my day gets busier. Conversations begin, problems surface, questions need to be answered, etc. The challenge is to maintain God's presence in every facet and in every interaction for the rest of my day. As my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), He never leaves me. The problem is that at times I choose to leave Him. We read in Galatians 5:16-17, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." This is the dichotomy of life. On one hand we are capable of doing amazing things for the Lord, while at other times if we choose to act in our own strength and our own flesh we are capable of shameful acts. For those who have entered into a relationship with Him, He has given us His Spirit. We need to continually abide or remain fixed on Him. We read in John 8:31-32, "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”"
Balaam is an interesting character in that he was a false prophet who practiced sorcery, occult divinations, etc. and yet he spoke to God and God spoke to him. We read in Numbers 24:2, "And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him." Though King Balak had hired this false prophet to curse Israel, through God's Spirit he was blessing them. (As an aside, from this aerial position that they had, the Israel camp assembled around the tabernacle in the middle would resemble a cross if one does the math of the size of each tribe of Israel (Numbers 2)). In these blessings we see him refer to the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:1-3), in Numbers 24:9, and refer to the future Messiah in 24:17, "“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,.." We see the confrontation between Balaam and King Balak, as the king is dissatisfied in the outcome. But we then move directly into a surprising twist in 25:1-3, "Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel." We don't get the full understanding of this until Numbers 31:16, "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord." Though Balaam was moved by the Spirit, he eventually was led by his fleshly desire to get the money being offered to him by King Balak. He could not directly curse the Israelites, but he could find a way for the Israelites to so compromise themselves that God would curse them Himself.
We read in Matthew 7:22-23, "Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" It is important to realize that the ministry of the Holy Spirit was different in those days. In those times, the Holy Spirit would come upon a person for a time, or for a specific purpose, the case of Balaam being such an example. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something which only occurred after the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as He did not leave us orphans, but sent His Helper to reside within us. The difference is huge. For Balaam, though he was a godless sorcerer, God enabled him to speak His oracles to a godless king. But rather than seeking after the Spirit, Balaam no sooner sought how to satisfy his flesh. For us, having been saved by the perfect blood of Christ, once we enter into a relationship with Him, we cannot lose the presence of the Holy Spirit, but we can grieve Him, when we choose to feed our flesh. The most important choice anyone can make is to repent, or change our mind, about ourselves and our sinful ways, and accept the free gift of salvation from Jesus. Once done, through a steady diet of His Word, prayer, fellowship, church, we need to learn how to be sensitive to the Spirit in order to avoid the lure of the flesh.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: