Numbers 22:1 says, And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. The people of Israel camped in Moab on this side of the Jordan. They were a large group of people, and they were noticed by others. Still, they were under God's order not to harm the people of Moab. We are on the other side of Jordan today, not to the promised land of heaven, and we are under God's order not to harm those who oppose us as followers of Christ, no matter how large our number may be. Verse two adds, And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Balak had seen what the people of Israel, under the leadership of God, had done to the Amorites. What people should see us doing as Christians today is leading others to Christ, and they should have no reason to fear us. Verse three continues, And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. The people of Moab were afraid and distressed because of the great number of the people of Israel. It would be nice if there were enough Christians today that other people at least respected us. Verse four concludes, And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. The Midianites said that the people of Isreal would lick them up like an ox licked up the grass of the field. If they had been looking to God for guidance, they would have known they had nothing to fear. If people of the world fear us as followers of Christ today, it is because they do not look to God for understanding of who we are and Who He is. God's purpose is not to destroy, but to redeem, the lost people of the world, and that should be our goal as well. Yet, I believe that too often we seem to look forward to God destroying those that we do not like, and we want to be a part of their being destroyed.
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