We read in Numbers 23:18-19, and Balaam uttered this prophecy: "Come, Balak son of Zippor, And listen to what I have to say. God is not like people, who lie; He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises, he does; He speaks, and it is done. (GNB)
These were the words of the Prophet Balaam to Balak who was the King of Moab. The first time when Balak asked Balaam to curse the people of Israel, Balaam blessed them instead of cursing them. For the second time when Balak implored Balaam to curse the Israelites this was Balaam’s response to him. Balaam said, “God is not like people, who lie; He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises, he does; He speaks, and it is done.”
God does not lie, and God does not change His mind like humans do. As we study the incident in the life of Balaam and Balak we can have a deeper understanding of God and his character as well as that of man and his nature.
Oftentimes when we have bad experiences with people, and are hurt by them, we get discouraged, angry and project them onto our relationship with God. We have great expectations of people, we love them, we trust them, and when they betray us or hurt us we turn all of this pains towards God. Sadly there are many who won’t pray, or read their bible because of these bitter experiences with other people. Especially this is true when it happens within the church and relationships are soured, many have withdrawn from the fellowship, have stopped praying, and have distanced themselves from the Lord. Remember that such thoughts are from Satan who uses this as a weapon to sever us from our relationship with the Lord, and the members of His family, the church.
It is man’s nature to lie, and also human beings have a tendency to keep changing their mind. That is why we will find that those who affirm their loyalty to us, and speak in our favour will sometimes turn against us. The mouth of men is such that it can speak differently at different times. However, we as human beings find it easier to trust people, depend on people and love people, but when there is any hurts in relationships, we jeopardize our relationship with God not realizing that God does not lie, He does not change His mind, and that He is a promise keeping God.
The nature of man
Peter’s claim
We read in Matthew 26:35, Peter answered, "I will never say that, even if I have to die with you!" And all the other disciples said the same thing. (GNB)
Peter the disciple of Jesus made this affirmation that he would never deny Jesus even if it meant he had to die for Him. Not only did Peter say this, but all of Jesus’ disciples made a similar claim. However, Peter was not able to keep his word in a time of trial and testing.
How often we too have declared, and told God that we would never deny Him, we would always be faithful to Him, and we will tell others about Jesus only because we were stirred in our emotions or touched by a message we heard. Nonetheless, later we forget all of these tall claims that we made, and change when circumstances change. God knows that we as human being will fail and be unfaithful, but God’s love for us is unchanging. Even when we are faithless, He still remains faithful.
Jesus’ trust in Peter
We read in Matthew 26:37, He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, (GNB)
Though Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him, and though He perceived that the love that Peter had for Him was unsteady, Jesus took Peter along with Him for that crucial time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane even though He was in much grief and anguish.
As I read this portion of scripture, I thought about God’s unfailing love for us in spite of all our short coming and inadequacies. How often we stumble and even forget the promises we made to God, but the Lord is still faithful to us. Never forget that the Lord has loved us with an everlasting love. The Lord never gives up even when we fail Him many time. We may not deny Jesus like Peter did, but how often we shy away from witnessing for the Lord. There are times when we feel diffident to share with others the wonders that God has performed in our lives. No matter what we do, God’s love for us never ever fails. God still trusts us, and believes that His children will come back to Him, and will testify to His goodness and faithfulness, though they stumble and falter in many ways. The Lord who promised that He will be with us even to the end of the age is faithful to His promises, and will never abandon us. If we have missed out or faltered in some way, let’s come back to God, and be true to Him.
Peter’s denial and Jesus’ response
We read in Luke 22:59-61, And about an hour later another man insisted strongly, "There isn't any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!" But Peter answered, "Man, I don't know what you are talking about!" At once, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter (GNB)
When Peter was identified as one of the disciples of Jesus, Peter denied thrice that he did not know who Jesus was, or what they were talking about. After this happened when the rooster crowed, Jesus turned around, and looked straight at Peter.
Just imagine a situation where you send someone to a friend with a recommendation from yourself, and if that friend told that person whom you sent that they do not know you, I am sure you will never even want to look at that friend again, and will want to have nothing to do with them.
Not so with Jesus, for even in His moment of deep pain and anguish, He took time to look back at Peter with love in His eyes.
If we were to write down all the things that we have done against the Lord all the times we hurt Him and displeased Him, we will realize that we are not worthy for Him to even give a second look at us. God is faithful, He does not lie, and His love His unchanging and that is why He still keeps watch over us with His loving eyes.
Let us examine all those places where we have hurt the Lord or denied Him or missed out on being His witnesses. We must confess our sins, and ask the Lord to pardon us. God is ready and able to fulfill all of His promises that He has made to us.
When Peter met Jesus for the first time, Jesus changed his name from ‘Cephas’ to Peter which comes from the Greek word ‘Petra’ which means ‘rock.’ God made Peter a firm rock.
God is able to do that for us too, and to change all of our unsteadiness to make us firm, and established in Him. It is only the grace of God that we are part of His church, and that we are able to freely worship the Lord, and have this relationship with Him. Think about the grace of God and His faithfulness that has protected us, and kept us safe in spite of all the perils that surround us. We have received all of His love, and yet we are often unfaithful to the Lord. Let us decide to change, and be faithful to the Lord who is faithful to us.
There are two important points that we observed from the life of Peter. Firstly, though Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him, He took Peter along to pray with Him, though Jesus was going through tremendous agony and sorrow. The Lord wants us to pray, and spend much time with Him. Secondly, even when Peter denied Him Jesus looked on him with love. Remember that even when we denied the Lord many times, He never turns His face away from us, but looks on with love toward us. God’s face is never turned against His own, but always looks us with favor.
We read in Hosea 14:4, The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.(NLT)
Sometimes when we miss our prayer time or start the day without spending time with the Lord, our conscience will keep accusing us. This guilt sometimes wears us down, and we feel that something bad will happen during the day because we failed to do what we should do. The Lord reminds us that He will heal our faithlessness, which means that in every place where we have failed that Lord will set things right for us. We have a God who does not hate us, but one who loves us with all His heart, and without any bounds. No one should ever feel or say that God does not love them or does not hear their prayers. This is a lie for the Lord loves us with all His heart. Also the Lord is angry with us only for a while, but His anger is removed from us forever. This is God’s word for us that His promises will never fail, and His love for us will never change or leave us ever.
We weigh the love of God based on our circumstances. If things are bad we think God does not love us, and if things go well we think that God loves us. This is not true because as a child of the New Covenant we live under the grace of God, and the Lord never leaves us, and His love for us is unfailing.
The three things we understand from the life of Peter is that firstly he was constantly changing. Even we are like Peter, and our moods change with changing circumstances, but the Lord reminds us that He is our unchanging God. The Lord Jesus took Peter along with Him to pray even though He knew that Peter would deny him for sure. The Lord Jesus believes in us, and accepts us in spite of all our shortcomings.
Secondly, even when Peter denied Jesus, the Lord still directed His gaze towards Peter with love. It is man’s nature to smile and be pleased with those who do good to them, and to hate and avoid those who do us harm. However, the Lord Jesus loves us, and His eyes are turned toward us no matter how far we have gone from the Lord. Even if there are weaknesses in our bodies because of our sin, the Lord is able to heal and restore us back to health.
Thirdly, at one point Peter went back to fishing though at the beginning of his encounter with Jesus, Peter had left it all to follow Jesus. Jesus had called Peter and promised that He would make him a fisher of men, but he had gone back to his profession and forgot his calling.
If we were in the place of the risen Lord Jesus, we would have thought that Peter was a failure, and that all of the years of training him were a waste. However, God’s calling for Peter never changed.
We read in John 21:17, A third time Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" and so he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Take care of my sheep. (GNB)
Even though Peter had gone back to fishing, the Lord Jesus did not give up on Peter. Jesus went looking for Peter who ran away from Jesus in His time of need, the one who denied Him three times that he did not know who Jesus was, and the one who really saddened Jesus. The Lord commanded Peter to ‘Feed His sheep and take care of them.’ Peter didn’t go seeking for Jesus, but Jesus came seeking after Peter.
Though we run away from the Lord, He will never leave us. If we come back to the Lord Jesus He will bless us, and will certainly fulfill all of His promises for us.
Let’s remind ourselves again of Number 23:19, God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (ESV)
The Lord reminds us to hang on to the promises of God. However far you have gone from the Lord or how much you have hurt Him, know that you have a God who loves you. He wants to hold our hands and lift us up. Circumstances may have discouraged you or some of your expectations may not be fulfilled, or some people whom you loved may have hurt you and all of these may have weighed you down. No matter what let’s decide to come back to our first love and allow God to change you and use you mightily.
God’s promises may take time, but they will be surely fulfilled. Abraham waited for twenty five years to see the fulfilment of God’s promises to have a child. Joseph waited for many long years to see his dreams be fulfilled. When we are on the mountain top we are full of zeal, but when things get bad and we go through the valleys of life we lose heart. Let’s cling on to the Lord who does not lie, who does not change and who will surely fulfill His promises in His time. We can trust God who is not like man. He is the unchanging God, and not one of His promises will be forgotten, but God is faithful to fulfill all of them.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
