Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. 22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23 "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel". .......
This is one of the most important passages of scripture that deals with the stark realities of the Christian warfare, for it delineates in clear terms how our spiritual strength is maintained, and how we can live victoriously over all the assaults of the devil. Obedience to God is of critical importance to the Christian's safety and well-being, for we often fall, not because of the specious devices of the evil one, but because we wandered away from the straight path of obedience.
When Balaam was called upon to work some voodoo on the Israelites whilst they were asleep, he tried in vain to utter his curses, but only blessings came out, for God interposed for the deliverance and protection of His people. God's protective watch-care couldn't be tampered with whilst the Hebrews were walking in obedience to the laws and instructions given them by God, and The Lord Himself specifically stated that this was the reason why Balaam's curse could not work.
And so Balaam went home and thought the whole thing over, and after studying the reasons why the Hebrews were impregnable at this time, he decided to try a more sinister form of voodoo, not the one that consists of magic potions mixed with forbidden herbs, but the one that is least suspected by millions, in which the Hebrews were enticed to disobey God, and thereby open up their vulnerabilities. Let's read:
Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
It was disobedience that caused the Hebrews to fall a prey to their adversaries, and according to the scripture, this is the only type of voodoo that can cause the Christian to stumble. When God's people are walking in harmony with the light and knowledge given them, there is no enchantment that can work against them, for the same God who covered the Jews in the day of peril, engages His omnipotent power in behalf of the faithful, and thus all the fiery darts of the wicked are quenched as fast and furious as they come. Let's read:
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
But the devil knows and understands this formula of obedience and protection, hence all his energies are concentrated on enticing the people of God to depart from the path of rectitude, for he knows that when we deliberately sin against God without repenting, that our defense departs, and we are consequently made vulnerable to his assaults, just as it was in the days of the Hebrews.
In our day many are at a loss to understand why so many problems have come upon the stage of action so quickly, and almost every day, some new turmoil, war, or bloodshed is occurring across the globe. The answer to our questions lie in the deliberate departure from what we know to be right, and though philosophers and politicians may look for other scientific answers, yet the word of God does not lie, for it states that the wages of sin is death, and even though we may not be sinning on an individual level, yet because rebellion and iniquity are in the air, the collateral damage and fallout from sin in general is taking its deadly toll upon our little world.
In our personal lives, and also as a nation, let it never be said of us that we deliberately decided to walk contrary to what we know to be right, and if we have done so, it is in order for us to seek God's face without delay, so that the individual and international hemorrhaging can be brought to a halt. Without urgent confession and repentance, both individually and nationally, the woes we are seeing today are only going to be multiplied tomorrow, whilst the only remedy for our sorrows lies idly on the back-burner.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture which calls us to repentance, so that the work of restoration and healing can start without delay. Let's read:
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him.
He that has ears to hear, let him hear, for the second coming of Christ is looming on the horizon, and we all should be living in readiness, walking in harmony with what we know to be right. May God's grace, mercy, and protection attend us everywhere we may go, for the time is at hand. God bless!