Numbers 24:3-14 Bible Study | Episode 801

November 4, 2024

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Numbers 24:3-14  Bible Study | Episode #801

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life.

Hi.

This is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's minute Bible study. We are in numbers chair 24, and we're. Well, you would think we would get to the end of babye prophecies for Israel. And that's the weird part, because he was engaged, he was hired to curse Israel, and he just can't do it. And the reason he can't do it is because he hears from God, and God has told him. Well, you're going to say what I want you to say, and it doesn't matter what Balak wants you to say. I want you to tell him what I say. Well, he's being true to. He's being true to God. He's been true to God and trusting God and doing what he said. And you might have that same point of view if you had met God or the angel of the Lord of Jesus with his sword drawn on a donkey that talked to you. And so we get to this final oracle, and it's not really the final one. He actually goes into a bunch of other things that he needs to tell Balak later on, and they are words from God, but they are not words from God in relation to what Balak wants to hear about. And what he wants to hear about is he wants to hear about Israel being cursed. Well, here we go. Israel is not cursed, it says. Then he took up his oracle and said, the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor. Now he's telling them, this is kind of the crescendo of his oracles here. He says, the utterance of the man whose eyes are open, meaning, I now know what's going on. I've met with God. I've not only heard from God. I've not only in the past spoken God's word, but I've actually met him. I've got my eyes wide open. So many times you deal with people in the world who they're living off of something somebody else told them, they're living off of the teachings of their childhood. And let me say this. Those things are important. They're not negative, they're not terrible, but they, they are not solid. They are not. They're not strong. And what I mean by that, well, something somebody else told me, something somebody else believed, something somebody else understands, is not my understanding. It's not my belief. It's not what I've been. I've learned. It's it's what somebody else has told me they know. And those are weak. They're weak because until you get to the place where you walk in what you believe, until you come to an understanding yourself, until you walk it out in your own life and see it, it's not, there's not a lot of strength in what, what you understand, what you know. And so, in many ways, youth is difficult because there's a just not been a lot of time to walk out deep understandings. There are people who've gone through a whole lot in their younger years, and they seem mature beyond their age. Well, the reason they're mature beyond the age is because they've been in a position where they had to grow up. They had to mature. They had to figure out what was true and what wasn't true and then walk that out. And so, a lot of times, you'll see young people who seem so lost, seem so wandering, seems so aimless. They go into the military and come home two years later, and they are hyper focused. Well, why? Because pressure has been placed on them. They've been put in situations that are difficult and hard, and they've had to learn to cope with them emotionally and cope with them in reality. And once they walk through that pressure cooker, they now have a deeper understanding of who they are and what they believe, what they understand to be life about. Life's about. So they are, in many ways, mature beyond their age, mature beyond their years, because they've had to really endure the struggle. And so balaam is saying this to Balak. He's saying, listen, this is my oracle. And I have my eyes wide open right now. I see. I see things from a different perspective because I have met with God, the utterance of him who hears the words of God, and he definitely hammers that home here. He says, my eyes are wide open. And now I know the voice of God because God has literally met with me. I hear the words of God. I know what God wants to say. And I've learned now that there is no saying things that I want to say or saying things that someone else wants to hear. It needs to be what I hear from God. I need to speak the words God has taught me to speak. Say the things God has taught me to say. Walk in the ways God has taught me to walk. He says, who sees the vision of the almighty? He's telling them, I've seen God. I've seen his countenance. I know who he is, who falls down with eyes wide open, meaning I've worshipped him and I know him. What a. What a really neat passage right here for a man who had heard from God but had never really ever met with God. Now he is. Now he's understanding. I'm going to say what God has for me to say, and I'm not going to say anything else. I'm not going to. You're not going to be able to buy me off or scare me off or decide that I can't be or do or say what God says because of this or that. That's not going to work for me. I'm going to say what God tells me to say. And so he says, how lovely are your tents, O Jacob. Now, this is. This is not balaam anymore. This is God speaking through Balaam. This is what Balaam understands from God. He says, how lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel. Why is. Why is God saying that? Well, because he has delivered them out of Egypt, and now they're his, and they're his people in his land. And you go, well, they're in the wilderness. Yeah, but it's all his. And he's delivered them out of the world to himself. And for God, they dwell with him now. And so their dwellings and where they are, are beautiful. And, you know, you find that happen in life. There are people who have very special places in the heart for things that are very, very important. And when they think about those places, even though they're not special to anybody else, they're special to them. I think of a park in Montgomery that I played ball in, that I grew up at elementary school playing on the playgrounds and playing on the kick battlefields and doing all the things that we used to do down there. And I actually began to date my wife there, and I asked her to marry me there. And just so happens that there's been several shootings in that area where we used to live. And even though I think about all the bad that is maybe going on down there, it still has a very special place to me. And most people, when they have a very special place in the heart for a location, because that's where they grew up, that's where they spent good times in life, it's special to them. And you might think, well, the wilderness experience is not super special for Israel, but it is. It really is, because that's really where they came to know God. And you will find that the places, even the places where maybe later on things didn't work out, have a special place in your heart. He says, like valleys, they stretch out like gardens by the riverside. He's, he's just saying they, they are abundant and numerous because God has protected them. God's taking care of them, and, and they, they, they're producing fruit. Their gardens out there producing fruit. They're beginning to understand me, and they're beginning to know me, and they're beginning to produce fruits of faith, and that faith will, will eventually take the promised land. He says they, they're like aloes planted by the Lord, meaning they actually soothe things. They actually fix problems. Aloe has historically been a soothing agent. We do know it soothes burns, but it soothes a lot of things. And they, they're like aloe. What he's saying is, is that they soothe God's anger toward sin because he realizes that faith can overcome that sin. God knows that, but he's realizing in his people, seeing it at work in his people, it's finally going to come about to bring about his glory in the world just beyond a few tribesmen who may know him and trust him. Now he has a whole people that know him and trust him. And that realization of God's plan is a good thing. He says, like cedars beside the water, meaning he sees strength in them, even though they may not see strength in themselves. And God sees strength in you. I told this Sunday the story of Gideon and how God saw in Gideon a great warrior, a great leader, when Gideon was in the midst of his fear and cowardice. And so God does see that in you, and God does expect those things for you. And when God sees you, he sees you as he has made you to be, not as you are. Wallery and in right now. And you go, and Waller, what does that mean? Well, in the south, that's what pigs do in sloth, okay? That's that wallering around is just rolling around in your own mess. And the truth is that we see ourselves wallowing around in our own mess, and God sees us as cedars beside the waters. And so you need to begin to see yourself as God sees you, because then you'll have your eyes wide open to his word and his way. And so if you don't have your eyes wide open to who you should be and can be, you ought to. You ought to have your eyes wide open to that. He shall pour water from his buckets and his seed shall be in the waters. What he's saying is, is that you're going to have an abundance of water and water is important and you're going to pour them into buckets and you're going to be able to plant, you're going to be able to plant those seeds and they're going to be abundantly well taken care of. God's going to do your work is going to be fruitful. It's going to be. It's going to have its effect. And listen to me. God's going to honor faith. You need to get this when you're walking in your own life. God honors your faith. He's going to make sure that it's going to bring about, bring about some return. You know, when he sows his seed, it's going to bring about some return. Some of it's really, really high return. But even the lowest return is pretty good. If I so tense, if I sow one seed and I get ten more, that's a great return on my investment. And, and you need to understand, if you, if you sow faith in the world from your life, it's going to bring about a yemenite reward, an investment reward. He says his king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted. Now, we know ultimately, that's talking about Jesus, talking about Christ, talking about the Messiah. But Adag was the. Well, he was the giant king that they just got through defeating, whose bed was 14ft long. So he's saying, this is a big thing right here. This is an important thing. God brings him out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. He's telling the story, all right. He says he brings him out of Egypt. He's delivered them from Egypt. Remember, ox means flesh. So it's not a good thing, but it is a good thing. We have great strength and great power in the natural things that God has given us. But remember, the spiritual is the most important. He shall, shall consume the nations, his enemies. He shall break their bones. He bows down and he lies down as a lion, meaning he has spiritual power. Also. He pierces them with his arrows, meaning God's given him authority over the earth and given him not only physical authority over the earth, but spiritual authority, though, over the earth. And as a lion who shall rouse him, meaning whoever rouses that lion is going to face the brunt of his attack, of his power, of his strength. God has made us for that. He really has. God's made us for that, and it has purpose and meaning for us. He says, blessed. Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you. Hmm. You need to remember that that's an important oracle from goddesse that is given to Balak, but it's given to the world. God blesses those who bless his people, and he curses those who curse his people. Can't hide from that. That's God's plan, it's God's will, and it's God's way. And so you can rest in it. We ought to rest in it for ourselves as believers, as followers of Christ, as co heirs with his kingdom. But we ought to also realize that this promise was given to Israel, and so we ought to stand with them also in the same way. And so we understand that God blesses those who bless them and us, and he curses those who curse him and us. And I think that's fairly obvious in the world that we live in. If that's been the case, then Balak's anger was aroused against Balaam. Why? Because that's a pretty good oracle from goddesse. And he struck his hands together, and Balak said to balaam, that means he got so mad, he clapped his hands. That makes a lot of sense. But it does if you think about a king. I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them three times. Well, you would have thought we just stopped at the first one. Now, therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor. Has he? He's kept him back from you paying him, but he hadn't kept him back from honor. So Balaam said to Balak, did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord to do good or bad of my own will? What the Lord says that I must speak. We're kind of getting to the end of understanding Balaam. He's figured it out. He's going to say what God has to say. He's going to walk by faith and what God has told him. This is a continual story in scripture. I don't know if you've noticed in that people meet with God, they come to know God, they see God, they hear from God, and then all of a sudden, as life goes on and they practice that, they're hardened by it. And he says, what will the Lord say? What must, what? The Lord says that I must speak. And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come. I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days. What he's saying is, I'm going to tell you how this is all going to work out. I'm going to give you a. I'm going to give you the rest of the story. Well, we're not going to be able to get to the rest of the story today, but I think it's really neat that Balaam has gotten to the point where he's not just giving him the oracle that he's asking for, he's giving him everything. He's giving him both barrels. Why? Because once you start giving people God's words, you don't just slow down. You don't just give them what they need in the instant you pour them all, pour it on them, and whatever they can drink up and take in, they take in that day. And then the next day, you pour more to them. And when you pour it to them over and over and over again, they become able to consume more. They become excited about the opportunity to know more. And they're changed by it. People are changed by God's word. That's why he sent Jesus to be the word made flesh among us. We're changed by God's word, and we're hardened by God's word. We're strengthened by God's word. And ultimately, we're matured by God's word. And as you study through the Bible, as we study it together, as we think about these things, it is good to do this together, and I hope we are able to do it for many, many years to come.

As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today, in Jesus name.