[the Moabites] had hired Balaam to call a curse down on [the Israelites]. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) Nehemiah 13:2
There are so many lessons in the book of Nehemiah, and the closing chapter is loaded with them. You’re no doubt familiar with the story of Balaam; if you need to jog your memory, it’s in Numbers 22-24. The king of Moab, feeling threatened by the Israelites, hired Balaam to call down a curse on his “enemy”. Instead, Balaam followed God’s instructions and blessed His people instead (Numbers 23:11-12).
In this simple verse, Nehemiah reminds us that sometimes what is intended by others to work against us, God, who is all-powerful, can work for us. Isn’t that what the Apostle Paul reminds us of? This is a verse we all know by heart and quote often:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
The way many of us learned that verse was that “all things work together for good” (KJV), as if magically “all things” just happen to “work together for good”, rather than the active “God works for the good”. I believe that’s exactly what Nehemiah is reminding us of — that God is active in the lives of His people. Whatever circumstances you’re dealt by your job, your friends, your health, whatever — God can turn bad into good, cursing into blessing.
What’s your “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)? Is God’s grace sufficient? When you look at “life’s lemons”, do you see curses thrown at you by circumstances, or do you see opportunity for God to work blessings through you?
Holy Father, forgive us for the times when in our selfish stubbornness, we fail to surrender our lives to You to allow You to work through us. May today be Your day; may our lives be instruments of Your blessing to others we meet. We offer our lives to You, so that You can turn curse into blessing, in the name of our precious Savior Jesus.