Guts to choose God's side

Today: Numbers 23-25

I think a lot of people picture Christians as kind of...wimpy. If you ever see a Christian portrayed in a movie or TV show, they usually seem to be pale, frail or just plain weird around people. That's sad.

I'm hoping that this generation will start to change some of the stereotypes because if there's one thing Christians shouldn't be, it's wimpy. It takes some real guts to choose God's side--and people with guts are usually NOT blah. They're leaders. They're straightforward. And they're interesting.

Take Balaam in today's passage, for example. Yesterday, he was the guy who heard from a donkey (definitely interesting!)...and from God, too. In today's passage, he had some major guts to stand up to a guy named Balak who asked him to curse the Israelites (God's people). I LOVE Balaam's responses to Balak. Here are a few of the cool things he said:

"...How can I curse whom God has not cursed?

How can I damn who God has not damned?..."

"Does he (God) not speak and do what he says?

Does he promise and not come through?"

"Didn't I tell you earlier: 'All God speaks and only what he speaks, I speak'?"

"Didn't I tell you upfront when you sent your emissaries,

'Even if Balak gave me his palace stuffed with silver and gold,

I couldn't do anything on my own, whether good or bad,

that went against God's command'?"

Balaam was a guy with guts--I kind of like him, don't you? Some of the things he said put him in a tough spot with Balak, a powerful man who actually threatened him. Choosing God's side takes guts at times, but it's always the right thing to do--you always win!

Tomorrow: Numbers 26-27

The Bold, Beautiful, Blessed and Deceived

Today: Genesis 27-29

If there ever was a Biblical soap opera, I think today's passage might have been it. These chapters set out a pretty twisted plotline--a brother deceiving a brother (and his father, too!), a bait-and-switch at the altar, a wife who gives children to her husband but receives no love in return, and the beautiful girl whose guy waited 14 years to make her his bride (and did I mention that this guy was also the one who married her older sister by mistake?). It sounds a little like Jerry Springer, don't you think?

What's amazing is that God was in the midst of this messiness. He didn't cause it. But He loved these people with messy lives. He was with them. He blessed them. He saw them. He heard them.

At moments, all of us can find ourselves in the midst of messes--messes that impact us or the people around us. Don't be afraid to reach out to God in your dramatic, messy life. And don't be afraid to reach out with God's love to someone else whose life is a mess to rival a Jerry Springer episode. Love is strong enough to wade its way through messes--and to pull us out of them, too!

Tomorrow: Genesis 30-31