December 4 – He Makes It Good

“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 it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” - Numbers 23:19 (NASB)

The Book of Numbers in the Bible is well titled. On two occasions 40 years apart a numbering the People of Israel happened. The first at Mount Sinai before Israel was about to enter the Promised Land but then refused to believe God and go into the land. The second numbering happened 40 years later before they actually did enter Canaan. Before that happened Balak the king of Moab, fearing the Israelites, summoned Balaam and hired him to curse Israel. God intervened, and instructed Balaam by giving his donkey the ability to speak. God instructed him to not curse but to bless Israel. When Balaam explained to Balak why he could not curse Israel, he said God had commanded him to bless them. Once given the blessing could not be revoked. Although Balaam was not a worshiper of God, he did understand who the God of Israel was. The words of our verse today were spoken by Balaam to Balak. Balaam knew he would have to do what God commanded and gave a blessing rather than a curse. God cannot lie or go back on His word, even for us today. Numbers 22-23 is the accurate record of what happened. 

  

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April 10 – Holding Firmly To Hope

“…so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.” – Hebrews 6:18 (NASB)

“A promise is a promise” we say because just a promise is sometimes not enough to convince others that we are true to our word. We find the need to double down on our promise to tell the truth and not lie. This is because we and humans in general have a history of being untruthful or not fully truthful at least. So our oath when sworn in to testify in court is “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” An oath puts an end to all arguments, so there can be no argument about the expectation of truth.  God promised Abraham He would make him a great nation, He then confirmed it with an oath by swearing by Himself.  As heirs of the promises, we know they are for us as well. When we read the promises from God, we trust them – at least we should because God’s promises are underscored by two things. First is it impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2); second, His ever truthful Word is supported by His promise sworn on Himself. We have hope in every promise of God. We can know it is real and true.

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April 24 – He Does Not Change His Mind

“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 it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”  Numbers 23:19 (NASB)

These words were spoken by a man with the name of Balaam who served the King of Moab.  Balaam was a wicked prophet and is noteworthy because, although he was a wicked prophet, he was not a false prophet. That is, Balaam did hear from God, and God did give him some true prophecies to speak when Balak sent him to curse the Children of Israel, God's people.  These words are good for us now because they are truth.  We can live by them and apply them to our lives.  We do have a wonderful God and He is the true God.  He does not change His mind. He never fails to keep  His promises to us.  When we trust Him to do something which He has promised to do for His children we can depend on His faithfulness to do it.  Today, reflect on what God has promised us in our lives and commit to again trust that He will make good His promises, whatever they are. 

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