Refresh
A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon

Preaching Text: Numbers 23:16-26

If there is one constant about this life, it’s that change is inevitable.  Some changes we choose and others are thrust upon us.  Some changes bring new and exciting situations.  However, change is often destabilizing and leads to feelings of insecurity. There is good news in today’s text.

God does not change in his person or purpose.

“God is not man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should change his mind” (v. 19).   In other words, unlike people, God is who he says he is and he does what he promises to do. 

God’s plan doesn’t change. In this account from Numbers 23, the king of Moab has hired Balaam, a seer, to curse Israel for him.  However, the Lord tells Balaam that he may not do so because Israel is already blessed (v. 20).  Approximately 400 years earlier, God had made a promise to Abraham that his offspring would be blessed and through his offspring, all peoples would be blessed (Genesis 12).  This is an early reference to God’s plan to bring forth his Christ through Abraham’s lineage. 

God’s personal character doesn’t change.  In Exodus 34:5, God tells Moses that God is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger…” He wants us to know him as he truly is. These character traits are always true of God as he guides and walks with us.  Balaam also acknowledges that “The Lord their God is with them…God brings them out of Egypt” (v. 21-22). 

We must expect that God will interact with us just as he does in the Scriptures.  We can take comfort in the security of his promises to us.  Despite the inevitable changes of life, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38-39).

Taking It Home:Make a list from Scripture of God’s character and ways.  How have you seem him demonstrate these in your own life?