Numbers 23:7–12, 18–24; 24:10–13
Have you ever had someone decide they were against you? I have. It’s awkward. Maybe they misunderstood you, criticized you, questioned your motives or seemed strangely committed to seeing you fail. Most of us can handle opposition pretty well, as long as nobody actually opposes us.
Numbers 23 and 24 gives us one of the strangest examples of this. Balak, king of Moab, was terrified of Israel, so he hired Balaam to curse them. The plan seemed simple enough. Find the prophet. Pay the prophet. Get the curse. Problem solved. Except God had other plans.
Balaam stood overlooking Israel and opened his mouth to curse them, but blessing came out instead. Balak was understandably irritated. So he basically said, “Maybe we need a different angle.” He moved Balaam to another location, hoping a change of scenery might improve the cursing situation. It did not. Balaam blessed Israel again.
Balak kept trying. Different location. Same God. Same result. Eventually Balaam told him, “Didn’t I tell your messengers that I could do nothing against the will of the Lord my God?” (Numbers 24:13, NLT). There is something deeply comforting about that.
People can misunderstand us. They can criticize us. They can question our motives. They can say things about us that are unfair or simply untrue. They can even hope we fail. But they do not have the authority to determine God’s purposes for our lives. God does. That does not mean every criticism is wrong or that following Jesus makes us immune from consequences. Sometimes criticism contains truth we need to hear. We do not have to live anxiously beneath the opinions of other people.
Some of us spend far too much emotional energy trying to manage what everybody thinks about us. Guilty. We replay conversations, defend ourselves in imaginary arguments and worry about what someone might be saying in a room we are not even in. Numbers 23 and 24 reminds us that God is already in that room. So listen humbly when correction is needed, but refuse to let someone else’s words become louder than God’s voice. You do not need to control every opinion, answer every accusation or defend yourself at every turn. Walk faithfully with Jesus. Keep your heart surrendered. Trust His sovereignty.
Other people may have something to say about your story, but God gets the final word.