Recently, my son and I attended a particular gathering. Walking back to our parking spot, we heard someone nearby yell out, “I hope you die!” It was an intended curse, albeit, utterly powerless.
The pronouncing of curses on God’s people is not a new practice. King Balak was driven by this desire as he sent messengers to Balaam, urging him to come to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24). After Balaam’s perverse path to meet King Balak, he was taken to a panoramic view of God’s people. How electric the moment when he opened his mouth to pour forth what God had put in there, not a curse, but a blessing: “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?” The king, greatly distressed that the expected curse had turned into a blessing, took Balaam to another place that he might curse Israel from there. However, just as before, instead of the awaited curse, another beautiful blessing was pronounced. How could it be otherwise? The sovereign God had determined to bless His people, and Balaam, himself, testified that he had no choice in the matter: “I have received commandment to bless and HE has blessed and I cannot reverse it.” In exasperation, the king entreated Balaam to “neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” Preposterous! It was too late to make a deal. God had declared Israel blessed and the blessing was irreversible.
Now the king should have known better than to take Balaam to yet a third site from which to curse the children of Israel. He should have understood by now that whomever God blesses, man cannot curse. “But fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7); thus, this fool pressed on to extort, if it were possible, from this last scene, a curse upon his enemies. God, sitting in heaven, may have been laughing (Psalm 2:4), as with timid expectancy King Balak hoped against hope to hear the utterance of a curse. We pause to take in the moment as Balaam “lifted up his eyes and saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes,” and then exclaimed exaltingly: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!” Is it not glorious that three futile attempts to extract a curse on God’s people, precisely occasioned three special outpourings of blessings upon them! There was nothing else left for King Balak to do but to smite his hands together in anger and send Balaam home.
King Balak is not around anymore, but there are other kings of the earth in our day “taking counsel against the Lord and His anointed” (Psalm 2:2). Our local congregation in Aylmer, Ontario, has been under attack with fines, court summons, door egging, sign smashing, and recently, being locked out of our meeting house. Without doubt, the adversary had meant these things for evil, but the Lord knew how to turn them for good. The church has consequently experienced a great influx in attendance and has thereby become the joy, hope, and comfort of many souls. Not only are her opposers forced to acknowledge that God is blessing, but that they have actually assisted God in the work.
“God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill His will” –an astounding statement (Revelation 17:17)! Oh, these haughty kings of the earth who think that they are in control and that they can place all kinds of restrictions on others! They know not how restricted they are themselves! They do not even have power over their own hearts! As one preacher depicted, God has their hearts lying open before Him, and at His will He drops into these hearts specific plans, plots, and pursuits that must be fulfilled. The same preacher expounded on God’s hook (Isaiah 37:29), showing how Pharaoh was hooked in his nose and bridled in his lips as he was made to chase after the fleeing Israelites, that he might find his destruction in the waves of the Red Sea. In like manner, those that rage against God and curse His people today, may suddenly find themselves running in a direction they would rather not go; yea, they may find the curse boomeranging on them! Indeed, God’s adversaries are in a deadly position.
It is God’s irreversible purpose to bless His church, especially now at the end of time. In the book of Revelation, He has already declared the church’s triumphant outcome in her fierce battle against the wicked system of this world. “Hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). The blessing has been pronounced! “The beloved city” will overcome!
Church of God, take courage! “No weapon [and no curse] 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” (Isaiah 54:17).
