Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength by John Bevere

Author:John Bevere [Bevere, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth
ISBN: 9781937558123
Google: 9x4vDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B074HF9FH9
Publisher: Messenger International
Published: 2017-09-29T06:00:00+00:00

16

The Strength of Sin

(Part 2)

Let’s pick up where we left off with the prophet Balaam in the previous chapter.

After receiving God’s instructions to not go with the first set of ambassadors from Moab and Midian, Balaam once more goes to the Lord with the second, more prominent, group of representatives. He’s hoping for a different response.

Has this ever been your situation? Have you ever known in your heart what God was saying, but you went to Him in prayer anyway, hoping for a change in His response? You perhaps covered up the inappropriate desire by saying, “Let me pray about it,” or “Let me pray about it one more time.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been guilty of this, and I’ll share later in this chapter a couple of my sad experiences in this area.

Balaam coveted both the offering and the honor from this powerful king but didn’t dare go outside of the “limitations” of God’s instruction. He was smart enough to know that he couldn’t be blessed if he deliberately disobeyed. Sometimes this is just enough knowledge to open the door to greater deception.

So you can imagine Balaam’s surprise when God says, “Get up and go with them.” Balaam may have thought, Shocking! It’s a good thing I prayed about this again!

So Balaam got up the next morning and did exactly what God had told him to do the night before, and to our amazement we read, “Then God’s anger was aroused because he went” (Numbers 22:22 NKJV).

What, is God schizophrenic? Of course that’s a rhetorical question, because we all know the answer is, no way! Why then was God angry? Balaam had done exactly what God told him to do—he went. Then God became angry with him for simply going. So what’s going on?

There is a truth revealed here that many do not know and understand, and it took me years of hardships before I discovered it:

If we really desire (covet) something, and God has communicated His will on the matter (whether through His Word or in prayer) yet we still desire it, God will often give it to us, even if He knows it is not best for us and that we will ultimately be judged for it.

This statement may shock you, but it is true. Let me prove it with some biblical examples.

Fulfilled Requests

Israel wanted a king. The leaders approached the prophet Samuel and made their desire known. They said, “‘Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have’” (1 Samuel 8:5).

Samuel inquired of the Lord about their request, and God gave an answer for the leaders through the prophet, a warning of why having a king would not be good for them. He forewarned them that the king would draft their sons to his army. The king also would take their sons to plow his fields, harvest his crops, and make weapons and equipment for him. He would also take their daughters and force them into the labor of cooking, cleaning, making perfume, and other various jobs.

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