The star out of Jacob
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them. Luke 1:68
Read Numbers 24:15—18
Balaam was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel. The tables are turned on Balaam himself. He falls down, but can’t shut out the one he wants not to hear. Nor can he close his eyes. He can’t blot from his vision the one he wants not to see. He wants no relationship with God. And the tables are turned on Moab. A star and a sceptre from Israel will overpower Moab. If I read this in Advent, I am attracted initially by one image: the star! A star will shine out of Israel. A star will lead to the deliverer. A Morning Star will promise the dawn. In Balaam and in Moab I see the spirit of the age in which I live. I see my own age as defiant, reluctant to see the star, resistant, having to have its eyes held open, striving against God. And I pray that I will be of a different spirit.
Father, you are the Almighty. You send the star. You send the light that promises the dawn for all your creation. You have sent this light from Israel to bring your deliverance and your rule into my life. By a star you guided men from the nations to the world’s deliverer. When you see in me anything of Balaam, anything that resists you, anything that is reluctant to freely bow before you, deal with it. Your light shines undiminished in Jesus. Let me bow joyfully and wholeheartedly and gratefully before him.