WANT TO BE BLESSED?

G-d says to Jacob:
“The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.      Genesis chapter 35, verse 11

 Around 2000 years before Mohammed was around, there was a promise to a man named Moses. 

G-d spoke very awesome words to Moses:

"I am the Lord.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob

as El Shaddai but by my name, Yahweh, I was not known. 
I have established my covenant with them, to give them the
land of Canaan……”      Exodus chapter 6, verses 2-4

Moses was then commissioned by Yahweh to  lead the Israelites into the land He promised them. Yahweh was with Moses releasing many demonstrations of His  supernatural power and might. There were plagues that challenged the false gods of Egypt, ending with the supernatural protection of lamb’s blood over every Israelite’s doorway. Then there was the parting of the Red Sea, and the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. As the people were preparing to enter the land promised to them by G-d, they defeated Sihon,  the King of the Amorites and took possession of his land (Num. chapter 21, verse 24).  They defeated Og, King of Bashan and took possession of his land. The surrounding people knew the Israelites were favored by their G-d. As they approached their promised land, other Kings took notice. One in particular was Balak, the King of Moab. Balak saw what  was going on and thought it would be a great idea to pay to have G-d curse the Israelites. So he hires a guy named Balaam. Although Balaam was not an Israelite, it was thought he had contact with Yahweh, the G-d of Israel. In Numbers chapter 22, verse 12, Balaam hears Yahweh say, “you shall not curse the people for they are blessed.” Balak offers Balaam more money and more honor, but Balaam is eventually opposed by the Angel of the Lord! His poor donkey protects him and gets beaten so badly that G-d opens her mouth in defense of her life. Balaam goes to where Balak wants him to pronounce curses over the Israelites but all that comes out is blessing! Then he says to Balak:

G-d 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.       Numbers 23:19,20

 In other words, “what G-d says, goes! He is in charge!”

 So…..is it possible that the G-d of the universe chose a group of people to show His power and love to, not to exclude everyone else, but to show them that he is the one and only G-d. That what he says, he will do. That he is mighty and able. There are many in the scriptures who believed this. There was Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, a priest of Midian. There was Rahab who was spared death in Jericho and Ruth a Moabite woman who chose the G-d of Israel to be her G-d.

Today, there are still those in nations all over the earth who read the scriptures and believe in the G-d of Israel. Sadly there are those also who rage against Him. Is it possible that the “defensive wars” of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 were won not by Israel’s might and expertise but by a word spoken by G-d thousands of years ago?

Is it possible that the reason Jerusalem has never been the capital of any other nation besides Israel is because the G-d of Israel said He put His name there and the city is His?

 Is it possible that Arabs lead 22 other nations equaling 640 times the size of Israel, with 60 times her population, with huge quantities of oil, because the G-d of Israel promised to bless the sons of Ishmael as well?

 How did a group of people who have been the target of genocide since the days of Pharaoh (Moses was supposed to be killed but had a bold radical mom who believed the G-d of Israel would keep him safe down the river), then the days of Haman, the days of Stalin, Hitler and today Ahmadinejad, survive to become a thriving nation only 2 ½ times the size of Rhode Island?  

 Is it possible that the G-d of Israel is real?  Is  He trying to show His faithfulness and His integrity to a lost world by keeping His promises?

 I believe this is important for citizens of Israel to consider, Jewish and Christian people to consider and people of the world who are not familiar with this G-d. If he is real, and you cannot curse what he blesses, then maybe you want to make sure you are living on the side of His blessing!