Numbers 22:4
“So Moab said to the elders of Midian, ‘Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’ And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.”
The Moabites were descendants of Lot and ancient ancestors like Israel. They inhabited the land east of the Jordan and south of the Dead Sea. As a result, they were not under the same curse as the Canaanites, and they occupied an area of land that was not given to Israel. In God’s economy they were to be neighbors and allies with Israel. Isn’t it sad that they had established such a distorted view of what would happen to them if they submitted to the will of God and allowed Israel to pass through their land? They believed that submission to the Lord meant their lives would be ruined.
The bible teaches that the devil is a liar and a deceiver. His goal is to steal what belongs to God and destroy those who are precious to God. One of the ways he accomplishes this is by distorting the Word of God, to make it seem as if surrender to God will ruin your life. He convinces us that the plans we have for our lives are best and God wants to rob us of those plans and give us something of lesser value. As a result, we fight against God with almost every step. When He wants us to lay something down, we fight, thinking we cannot live without it. When He wants us to pick something up, we resist, thinking it is much too difficult to do.
Sadly, the Moabites continued to resist the ways of God, fought against the people of God, and were defeated. They lost so much, simply because they had a distorted view of God.
I think it is also important for us to realize that the world around us has developed a pretty distorted view of God. Most people who have not accepted Christ have never read the Bible or sat in a Bible teaching church. Their understanding of Christ and Christianity has come from TV and movies. They have no real idea of who God is or what the Bible teaches. It is the role and responsibility of the Christian to set a good example of what it means to be a follower of Christ. As long as someone has a distorted view of Jesus, they are very unlikely to give their life to Him.
Pastor Jim
Jim Gallagher 