Complete Confidence: Yours in Him.

He’d told me not to look … but I just had to take a peek. How bad could it be?

He’d warned me before the story went live: “Babe, commenters are ruthless on those news sites. Don’t even go there; it’s just a firestorm of angry opinions.” So I didn’t go.

But then a week later I had to send someone the link, so I searched for the two KATU stories featuring our family. They popped up. My eyes widened: 81 comments? 45 comments? I scrolled down, just had to peek, how bad could it be?

Bad. But good.

Good for me. Eye-opening. I live in a pretty sheltered little world. Little stay-at-home mama, pastor’s wife, livin’ in West Linn of all places. A mean look is rare around here let alone a mean comment. But it was like God pulled back a little corner of the bandaid and let me see the hurting, wounded, festering part of the world where people sling sarcasm at each other like mud. Sling insults, tear-downs, angry words that come from somewhere deep down that’s terribly, terribly broken.

People are just so broken.

There were some great, thoughtful comments. People actually interacting with the content. But many are just angry hurting people who probably feel unheard,  threatened by the world around them, thrashing through life because something hurts so bad they can’t stand it any more.

I finished reading and was, I’ll admit, a little shaken. Was my whole life, as one person had written, merely “incoherent Jesus babble”?

I opened my Bible, shook my head in amazement at God’s timing. I had forgotten about my morning’s scripture reading. Until then. I had written across the page, tucked into Numbers 23-24:

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. 

That’s what had come to mind as I read of Balaam and Balak. Seeing that God had prospered Israel, given them His blessing, giving them the land, and defeated Og and the Amorites, the king of Moab was afraid.

So he called for Balaam the prophet.

Now, Balak didn’t want truth from Balaam, he didn’t want to actually inquire of the Lord at all. He just wanted Balak to “curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me.”

He just wanted to preserve his life by cursing someone else’s.

But, as you know, every time Balaam tries to prophecy he is simply filled by the Lord with blessings for Israel. Check this out:

First oracle: “How can I curse who God has not cursed?” (Numb. 23:8)

::Israel is NOT cursed.

Second oracle: “I received a command to bless: He has blessed and I cannot revoke it! … for there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel.” (Num. 23:20)

::Israel is not only not cursed, they are BLESSED and cannot be cursed!

Third oracle: “Blessed are those who bless you (Israel), and cursed are those who curse you.”(Num. 24:9)

::Israel is blessed and those who curse them will be themselves cursed instead. 

Wow. Talk about turning that on its head. God makes it so clear here that the people He has blessed cannot be cursed. I looked back down at the note on my page:

No weapon formed against you shall prosper.

I scribbled out weap, wrote opini–

No opinion formed against you shall prosper. 

Is that fitting with the context? I flipped back to Isaiah 54:17 and re-read it:

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

It is exactly the context. The New Living reads like this:

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!

I do not mean to say that no one can speak against you. Certainly some of what is spoken against us is true and should be taken to heart! But, as a child of God, living in the Kingdom, every accusing voice will be silenced by the one true God. 

You may feel that every voice is against you. When you choose to live in the upside-down kingdom you may hear friends, relatives (and strangers) mocking you or criticizing.

There is only One who can bless.

There is only One who can curse. 

The message of the cross is foolishness [“incoherent Jesus babble”] to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18).

So  we do well to pray that Jesus would

‘open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts. 26:18)

I wonder if sometimes we get so distracted by a tiny scratch of our own that we forget that the world is bleeding to death?

It does hurt when our friends or family or strangers criticize our choices or mock our faith. But remember: It’s a scratch inflicting by someone who’s bleeding to death.

As we settle down secure in His blessing, convinced that no opinion formed against us shall prosper, we can respond in in complete confidence, offering grace:

“Bless those who persecute you.” (Romans 12:14)

{Thanks for reading.}