“This is my comfort in my Affliction for Your Word has given me Life.” (Psalm 119:50)
The flight attendant accidentally inverted two code numbers and end up with the wrong schedule. She managed to trade flights with other attendants except for one…Flight 175. She needed to be in NY to meet up with some friends. The night before the deadline, she tried again and the computer froze. She was very upset when she called to give her friends the bad news, that she would not be able to make it. She hung up the phone and finished her flights for that night. When she woke up the next morning, she checked the flights only to hear the CNN news that Flight 175 had crashed into the Towers on 9/11. The same flight she so desperately wanted to be on. When her friends found out, one of them said, “God has a plan for you. You were meant to be here…alive!”
In the Bible, Numbers 22, there's a story about Balaam and his donkey. To make a long story short, Balaam was tempted by king Balak to come and curse the children of Israel. Balaam consulted God who told him to leave the people alone. Balak would send messengers with an even bigger temptation, changing Balaam's heart against God. So, God tells him to go. In his going, Balaam would put opposition between him and God. Numbers 22:22 says, “And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the Angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him.”
Balaam was so blinded by sin that he couldn't see the Angel of the Lord standing in the way, but the donkey could. You know what Balaam did, each time the donkey delayed his impending death, he beat him. He never once took time to see if there was anything wrong with the donkey because he was eager, by temptation, to get to sin. And some of us have been there. You don't have to admit it, but there's been times we've been so entangled with sin and captivated by temptation that we would admittedly lie to Mama, break traffic laws, and go against what we know is right just to get to sin. All while cursing the delay that could save our lives.
Yet, even when we've made God our adversary, He will still send a delay to spare our lives, if we are willing to see it. This is why I asked, What if it's God standing in the way?
Let me put it this way. Biblically, a donkey is called an ass. A female donkey is called a she-ass. In this passage, verse 27 says, “And when the ass saw the Angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam. What if falling on your ass saved you? What if the layoff saved you from working at a place that will test your sanity every day of the week? What if the failing business was God standing in the way, saving you from putting money into a building that'll cost you more than it's worth? What if God allowed the contract to fall through because you were getting in bed with the enemy, although you couldn't see it? The relationship you thought was love was lust dressed up and smelling good, so God let them walk away to save you from years of heartache.
What if the fall wasn't punishment but placement in a position to be chosen? What if the fall that crippled you, is also the thing that changes you? What if the thing that hurts you also hides you until God honors you? What if the fall that caused jail time is a thing God is going to use to propel you to purpose? What if the bad decisions that put you in a desolate place is the very place, you'll hear God calling your name? What if the fall turns into your testimony to save others?
Balaam didn't see God until the ash fell. Some of us, God is literally blocking our path and we are still doing everything to get through. Balaam was run into a field, had his foot crushed against a wall and still he was eagerly trying to get to evil. The donkey laid down then started talking, and Balaam was too blinded by temptation to recognize his life was being spared. And that's some of us. Still fighting when we ought to be thanking God for blocking what should have killed us, what wasn't for us, for severing what we didn't have the strength to end and for standing in the way when we were too drunk off sin to see the danger in our actions.
Some of us are to be praying, “God, thank You for standing in my way because You stopped me from chasing what has the power to crush me. Thank You for standing in my way because I was headed to revive what You've been telling me to let die. God, thank You for standing in my way because I couldn't see it was me causing the problem. God, thank You for standing in my way, freeing me from inflicting the wounds. God, thank You for standing in my way because Your standing, saved me.”
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