Stories of material success are often presented as the outcome of human cleverness, skill, and enterprise. At the same time, the less materially successful often are blamed or blame themselves for their lack of these human qualities and talents which are believed to produce material success. Arising out of these perspectives are usually boasting on one hand and scorn on the other hand. Without ignoring the importance of the virtues of human cleverness, skill, and enterprise in life here on earth, we must admit that the life's stories of men and women indicate material success is not consistently related to these admirable human qualities. There are many occasions when this sort of human philosophy does not explain earthly success and failure.
The dramatic account of Job's historic experience recorded in the Bible should convince us we should lay no personal claim on the material things of this life. Job was an icon of material success in his era. According to the Bible his material possessions were vast. The account boasts, "his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East" (Job 1:3). In addition, Job's character and reputation were impeccable. The Bible describes him as a man who "was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1).
Yet with immense wealth for possession and an underlying human character capable of rightly holding on to his vast wealth, Job lost everything in one day. Disaster and misfortune suddenly struck and plunged Job immediately into dire poverty.
This was an unusual catastrophe that had happened to a hardworking godly man. Like it would be today, many in Job's day would have produced their explanations for Job's sudden misfortune. And certainly not missing in the case of this obviously unexplainable disaster would be the spiritualistic speculation that some 'powerful' curse cast by an envious neighbour had struck this good man.
But we thank God the Bible did not leave us to speculate the true cause behind Job's sudden calamity. According to the Bible's account, the devil in an attempt to destroy Job had found that God had placed around Job a hedge which effectively prevented the devil or anyone else from destroying Job and his possessions. The devil approached God and accused Job of maintaining a godly life only because of the vast wealth God had given Job. He proposed that if God would take away the hedge He had placed around Job to allow him to destroy Job's possessions, Job would blaspheme against God. And so, God, being confident of Job's unconditional integrity and faithfulness, took up the challenge. He shifted the hedge around Job to allow the devil limited access to Job. The devil quickly took the opportunity and in one day unleashed extensive havoc on Job's property resulting in total destruction of all Job's possession and the death of his seven sons and three daughters.
What is of significant interest to us in this dramatic account is Job's keen spiritual insight in the midst of his adversity of the actual source of the wealth he had amassed and the calamity that had befallen him. The Bible tells us Job worshipping God declared: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
This mindset displayed by Job in the midst of such personal disaster confounds all human philosophy of prosperity and calamity. Where can we fit there the principle of positive thoughts and actions for achieving material prosperity or preventing adversity? To Job, his prosperity was not the achievement of man nor was his present calamity the curse of enemies. His deep spiritual insight into what was happening to him excluded wicked men and demons. He saw only God.
Job saw God in his prosperity and God in his calamity. Yet God remained to him one who is consistently good in all He does. "In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong" (Job 1:22).
This is the amazing essence of the Christian faith in relation to earthly prosperity and calamity. God gives and God takes away and in either way He remains blessed forever in the hearts of those who trust Him. The Christian's lot is maintained by God and is not left to the manipulations of men or devils. David affirms in Psalms 125:3: "For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity."
"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; Blessed be the name of the Lord!"
Showing posts with label prosperity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prosperity. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
When God has blessed....
God's blessings always prevail. It is the light that dispels the darkness and the good that overcomes evil. Yet the idea of the power of cursing continues to seduce the minds of man everywhere.
It's perplexing that so many people find it so easy to resort to the powers of darkeness and evil for help. And somehow it seems so difficult to convince them that exceedingly greater is the security and safety God provides freely. It seems to be the tendency of humans to embrace illusions.
But it is even more daringly presumptuous when some think that they can conjure up curses that can diffuse the power of God's blessings.
The Bible tells of such a man who hired a sorcerer to curse a people God had blessed so that he could defeat them. He was Balak, king of the people of Moab. He became intimidated by the might of the people of Israel. He sent for Balaam a sorcerer, who was well known among the nations around. He urged Balaam, "Please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed" (Numbers 22:6).
In this account the Bible gives us an interesting insight into who really has the authority and power to bless and curse. King Balak sent his emissaries to Balaam with "the diviner's fee" up front. When they got to Balaam's home they delivered the King's message. Balaam's immediate reply to them was "Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me" (Numbers 22:8).
Balaam was unashamedly acknowledging his helplessness in the craft that he was well-known for and was declaring only God indeed has the supreme power to bless and curse.
Balaam did not receive permission from the Lord to go to King Balak and he informed the King's emissaries. The King would not accept Balaam's refusal and sent more influential emissaries to persuade Balaam to come and curse the people of Israel. Balaam eventually conceded but not without informing Balak's emissaries that "though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Balaam the sorcerer was admitting the truth that no man can curse.
Even when Balaam arrived in the city of Moab and was brought before the King he again asserted to the King "Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak" (Numbers 22:38).
King Balak, however, convinced that Balaam the sorcerer could have cursed the people of Israel for him, insisted that Balaam proceed with the sorcery. Balaam complied with the King's request only to return to the King in despair afterwards with what became the well-known oracle declaring the futility of human sorcery: "Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. 'Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!' How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced" (Numbers 23:7-8)?
To the King's astonishment instead of cursing the people of Israel Balaam went on to pronounce blessings upon them. "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!" King Balak said. To this Balaam replied, "Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth" (Numbers 23:11-12)? Yes, indeed! No man can curse.
But King Balak, like many today, still could not be convinced that no sorcerer, even one as prominent as Balaam, had power to curse. He therefore insisted that Balaam try again. Balaam did, but again came up with even a sterner statement of God's supreme power and authority to bless and curse. "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.... For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'Oh, what God has done!'" (Numbers 23:18-23).
Both Balaam and King Balak eventually gave up on the futility of the practice of sorcery against the people of Israel and realized that no man can curse whom God has not cursed. When God has blessed you, there is neither sorcery nor any divination that can prevail against you.
Read the book by G.A.N. James, The Myth of the Generational Curse (Xulon Press, 2007).
It's perplexing that so many people find it so easy to resort to the powers of darkeness and evil for help. And somehow it seems so difficult to convince them that exceedingly greater is the security and safety God provides freely. It seems to be the tendency of humans to embrace illusions.
But it is even more daringly presumptuous when some think that they can conjure up curses that can diffuse the power of God's blessings.
The Bible tells of such a man who hired a sorcerer to curse a people God had blessed so that he could defeat them. He was Balak, king of the people of Moab. He became intimidated by the might of the people of Israel. He sent for Balaam a sorcerer, who was well known among the nations around. He urged Balaam, "Please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed" (Numbers 22:6).
In this account the Bible gives us an interesting insight into who really has the authority and power to bless and curse. King Balak sent his emissaries to Balaam with "the diviner's fee" up front. When they got to Balaam's home they delivered the King's message. Balaam's immediate reply to them was "Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me" (Numbers 22:8).
Balaam was unashamedly acknowledging his helplessness in the craft that he was well-known for and was declaring only God indeed has the supreme power to bless and curse.
Balaam did not receive permission from the Lord to go to King Balak and he informed the King's emissaries. The King would not accept Balaam's refusal and sent more influential emissaries to persuade Balaam to come and curse the people of Israel. Balaam eventually conceded but not without informing Balak's emissaries that "though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Balaam the sorcerer was admitting the truth that no man can curse.
Even when Balaam arrived in the city of Moab and was brought before the King he again asserted to the King "Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak" (Numbers 22:38).
King Balak, however, convinced that Balaam the sorcerer could have cursed the people of Israel for him, insisted that Balaam proceed with the sorcery. Balaam complied with the King's request only to return to the King in despair afterwards with what became the well-known oracle declaring the futility of human sorcery: "Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. 'Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!' How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced" (Numbers 23:7-8)?
To the King's astonishment instead of cursing the people of Israel Balaam went on to pronounce blessings upon them. "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!" King Balak said. To this Balaam replied, "Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth" (Numbers 23:11-12)? Yes, indeed! No man can curse.
But King Balak, like many today, still could not be convinced that no sorcerer, even one as prominent as Balaam, had power to curse. He therefore insisted that Balaam try again. Balaam did, but again came up with even a sterner statement of God's supreme power and authority to bless and curse. "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.... For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'Oh, what God has done!'" (Numbers 23:18-23).
Both Balaam and King Balak eventually gave up on the futility of the practice of sorcery against the people of Israel and realized that no man can curse whom God has not cursed. When God has blessed you, there is neither sorcery nor any divination that can prevail against you.
Read the book by G.A.N. James, The Myth of the Generational Curse (Xulon Press, 2007).
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