Pleasing God
BIBLE READING: PROVERBS 16:7; NUMBERS 22,23
When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Proverbs 16:7 (AMPC)
This is one of my favourite Scriptures in the Bible and for the past two weeks the Holy Spirit has kept this Scripture on my mind. God causes my enemies to be at peace with me when He is pleased with me.
As I began to meditate on this Scripture I looked at what happened when Balak employed the services of Balaam to curse the children of Israel because Balak considered them a threat to his kingdom. Balaam was a very powerful man in those days because King Balak said of him in Numbers 22:6b (NLT) “I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on the people you curse.”Balaam’s reputation was well known and while this may have been true of all the other people he had blessed and cursed, he was over stepping his boundaries by trying to do the same thing with the children of God. Worldly rules do not apply when the children of God are concerned and this is a TRUTH we have to believe in even today.
The story goes on to tell us how Balaam tried and kept failing and eventually God told him to deliver an unfortunate message to King Balak. I want us to look at some key words spoken by Balaam to Balak:
Numbers 23:8 (NLT) “But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those who God has not condemned?”
Numbers 23:20 (NKJV) “Behold, I have received a command to bless; He (God) has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”
AND THE REASON WHY GOD HAS BLESSED AND HE CANNOT REVERSE THE BLESSING IS FOUND IN THE NEXT VERSE:
Numbers 23:21 (NKJV) “He (God) has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.”
GOD WAS PLEASED WITH ISRAEL!!!! AND BECAUSE GOD WAS PLEASED WITH ISRAEL, BALAAM COULD NOT CURSE ISRAEL. (GOD WAS WITH THEM!!!!)
Balaam said in Numbers 23:23 (NLT) “No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel. For it will be said of Jacob, ‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’
At that point in time, Israel’s ways pleased the Lord and He put His covering over them. Balaam knew he had no power over the Israelites because he recognised the Sovereignty of God. He told Balak God had found no iniquity or wickedness in the Israelites, they were His people, so they were “untouchables” to the world and so he ended up delivering the curse on Balak.
When I looked at this story, I realised that whether my enemies like it or not, they have to be at peace with me if God is pleased with me. As long as God does not find any iniquity and wickedness in me then He will always be pleased with me. I am grateful to God that Jesus Christ said, as long as I remain in union with Him (John 15:5), I will always be fruitful and have abundant life. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross has made me right with God and so by remaining in Jesus Christ and His Word remaining in me, I enjoy the covering of God in my life. It is by allowing His Word remain in me that my ways will always please God. As I study the Word of God continually, meditate on it day and night and I obey everything written in it, my values and perceptions will grow daily as my mind gets renewed to become like His. Your life is shaped by your thoughts and your thoughts are shaped by what you feed it, so if you feed your mind with the Word of God, the way you live your life will be shaped by the Word of God, thereby bringing Him pleasure in all you do. Proverbs 4:23 (GNT) says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
Stay attached to the Word of God, let it abide in you by studying, meditating and obeying it continually and God will see to it that your enemies are at peace with you.
“Surely there can be no enchantment with or against Atinuke, neither is there any divination with or against her descendants. (In due season and even) now it shall be said of Atinuke and of her descendants, ‘What wonders God has done for her and her descendants!’”
UNDER GRACE UNDER MERCY