Numbers 22:21-23:30, Luke 1:57-80, Psalm 58:1-11, Proverbs 11:12-13
Today is the 15th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today, as we gather together and take the next step forward together. And we have been working our way through the Book of Numbers and we have just begun to encounter a story between the king of Moab, his name is Balak, and a person who speaks to God, who hears from God, but is also known to have the ability to bless and curse things. And Balak summons Balaam to curse God’s people, the children of Israel, because they’re more powerful than Moab and they are making Moab very nervous. So, Balaam inquired of the Lord and the Lord told him not to go. And so, he sent the emissaries away. And they sent another group to them. You gotta come, you gotta come curse these people. And so, he goes back to the Lord, who tells him that he can go with these people, the next batch of people, but he can only do what he is told to do. And that is where we pick up the story, Numbers chapter 22 verse 21 through 23 verse 30 today.
Commentary:
Okay so, we still have an unfolding story Balaam and Balak and the children of Israel and who gets to curse who. And we will continue that story as we move forward tomorrow and then talk about it. We also have this unfolding story in the Gospel of Luke, and we talked how the angel Gabriel had given to Annunciation’s, two announcements about the birth of two different children, one that would become John the Baptist and one that would be Jesus, the Lord. And we talked about the reactions to those announcements. The fact that Zechariah was a priest and happened to be in the temple of the most high God burning incense when he had this revelation. And how he was struck dumb, he could not speak, he could not speak about what he had seen until it had been fulfilled. And in today’s reading, John is born. Everyone assumed that he would be named Zechariah after his father. It’s their firstborn son and it’s they’re, they’re older like this is probably their only son, so he should take the name of his father forward. But he declares what he had heard from the angel and writes it down, his name is John. And everybody’s amazed by this and then immediately Zechariah’s mouth is opened and he began to speak praises to God. So they’re amazed that the boy’s name will be John and then fear comes over them when his mouth is opened and he begins to praise God. And according to the Gospel of Luke, all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said what then will this child become, for indeed the hand of the Lord was with him. And then Zechariah gets a prophecy over his son. We know John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord and that he shows up at the Jordan and he’s baptizing people and calling people to repentance. What we see here, once again in the Gospels, is that it didn’t happen in a vacuum. John didn’t just appear out of the wilderness at the Jordan crying out to the people to turn their hearts back to God. We’re looking at what’s happening. John is born and he is born to a priest of the most high God, who has done work in the temple in Jerusalem, so he’s not obscure, he’s a priest who has had the opportunity to serve God in Jerusalem in the temple. And when he was serving God in the temple, he received a vision and when he came out of the temple, people were waiting for him, and he couldn’t talk. So, the rumors begin there. And then Elizabeth in her old age gets pregnant and then any number of rumors or jokes or whatever, like there in the dialogue of the people that are in their community, people are talking about this. Because Zechariah is a priest who can’t talk and he can do other things because his wife gets pregnant, but he still can’t talk. So, there’s probably plenty of talk about them. And then the baby is born and Zechariah names him John, which is unusual, and the people are shocked by it, but once he does, once he does this act of obedience, his mouth is open, and he begins to worship God and prophesy and freaks the people out. That’s the context for John the Baptist. And so years later, after he’s gone through his childhood and grown into adulthood and he shows up at the Jordan, people are going to find out what’s going on because that was the kid, that was the kid that Zechariah and Elizabeth had, and Zechariah couldn’t talk and then he named him John and everybody was talking about it, and everybody was wondering what’s going to become of this kid. Or to quote the Gospel of Luke, “What then will this child become.” So, they’re wondering. There’s almost this prophetic aura around John his whole life. And so, when he shows up, calling people to repentance, he’s not just showing up like a mirage in the wilderness. They’ve wondered what…what God was going to do through this John. Of course, we know that what he’s going to do is prepare the way of the Lord. And we will watch that unfold as we continue through the Gospel of Luke.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we invite You into all that we’ve read today, all that we read in the Book of Numbers between Balak and Balaam. And all that we’ve read here in the Gospel of Luke, of the arrival of John the Baptist to prepare the way. We ask that You continue to open our hearts, may they be wide open to You and may You lead us into the truth, and may we have eyes to see and ears to hear all that You are speaking into our story, transforming us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning DAB Family, this is Abba’s Child in Southwest Florida. I’m calling to respond to a few people that just called in for prayer today on March 11th. The first one is Beloved in Texas whose 12-year-old daughter is suffering from depression. Oh, sweet girl, my daughters 34 and suffers from depression. I had called in and asked for prayer and someone responded to my prayer, his name was Steve. He and his wife suffered with their own daughter with her depression and her anxiety disorder. I am praying for you, dear on. It’s so hard when our kids are suffering, especially with something that we can’t physically fix. Mental illness is such a curse. And all we can do is trust. And I’m telling you now, the crisis that my daughter just went through, I have learned to truly trust. So, I hope that my prayer for you is that you can have peace in knowing that Jesus has the wheel. And Sparky, you called in today too, to remind us to ask for prayer, that everyone has problems. We all suffer the same issues big and small. And none of them are too small or too big to ask for prayer about. And last but not least, PA Chappy, the pastor whose celebrating his very first year at his new church that has gone from 60 members to 90 members, who was suicidal 8 years ago. God bless you man. I just love hearing stories like that. God is so good, and I will pray for you and your church. I love you all, I love this community. In Jesus …
Hey DABers, this is Emily of Emily and Jim. Sorry to bother you again and hopefully this recording will actually work. I had to call though for the mother of the 12-year-old girl who was diagnosed with major depression. And is being diagnosed with ADHD. I had ADHD, I was diagnosed when I was 46, I’m 53 now. But from ages 10 to 12, to 13 I’m sorry, I was suicidal every single day. I was bullied. I didn’t fit in because kids with ADHD don’t fit in generally. And ADHD wasn’t a thing then and especially not with girls. So, I just want to, first of all, encourage you that it was in clinging to Jesus. My family weren’t even believers. But if somehow reaching out to Jesus and the word, that kept me alive. I’m here today. And so, I want to pray for your daughter because God is going to work in her life. The enemy is not going to have her. And I pray, Father God, for this…this 12-year-old girl, Lord, that you would give her hope. Lord, that she would cling to Jesus. Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would fill her up and fill her with joy. Father, we pray for the right diagnosis, Lord, and Father, the right coping mechanisms. Whatever she needs, Father. But I thank You Lord God, that she will have life, I speak life to her, I speak the joy of the Lord, which is her strength. And, Lord, I thank You, that You have my life as a testimony that the enemy will not prevail. The enemy will not prevail in this 12-year-old girls’ life. Thank You, Lord God, for Your faithfulness. And I pray these things, I pray life and joy and hope for this girl. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Hello, my wonderful DAB family. This is Rosie, aka Great to Be Free in Jesus. And I’m calling in regarding the prayer request, Winnie called in about her nephew who lost his wife and lost his home. And I just want you to know that I’m praying for him. Cause I’m sure he’s got a broken heart. I went through a really hard time when I lost my husband. I had never known such grief. And when I would cry, it felt like the tears were coming from the very pit of my stomach. And it was so painful. I was stuck on the question, why. And I was on that question for two years. And people kept saying to me, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And it took me two years to finally do that. I finally just told Lord, Lord, I don’t know why my husband died because You told us to move from Indiana to Oklahoma. And now I don’t have a husband. And I don’t know why he died but You do, and I don’t have to know why. I trust You. And once I did that, all those tears no longer felt like they were coming from the very pit of my stomach. And I also had children at home that I had to finish raising. It was a very hard time. I just wanted you to know, he’s got a broken heart. And I’m praying for him. I love you my DAB family. God bless you.
Hi DAB family, this is God Knows My Name. I’m calling to ask for prayers please. I need prayers for this anger that I’m feeling. I feel so angry. I am pregnant. And I, I’m aware that you know, the hormones get some pregnant women to, to be like that. Sometimes and my anger is started towards my husband. Not for something that he did. And even though I have given some proposals on how we can manage it, including maybe seeking counseling, he prefers to just pretend like everything’s okay. And basically, not address the proposals I’ve given and not propose anything for me and it just makes me even angrier. I don’t know if it’s the hormones. I’m so angry. I’m angry at my daughter’s father. He has refused to talk to her for a very long time and I don’t know why. And I’m so angry because I kept her out of her life for so long and he begged, and I finally let him into her life and now he is just breaking her and me. He just popped in and now he’s just popped out. And I’m so angry that I exposed her to that. And I don’t know why he’s doing that to her, she’ just 11-years-old. She’ll be 11 next month. So, please just pray for me. I don’t want to feel this way.
Hi, this is Victorious Soldier, just calling to pray for some of the DABers. I want to pray for Tim from New Hampshire, and I want to pray for his wife to be strengthened. I want to pray for Dennis from Anis, Texas. She’s the mayor there, there was an unexplained death of her, of her, I think it was her brother or someone in the family. I wanna pray for that family. And they found out that it was no foul play but just pray for that family and the loss of that loved one. I wanna pray for Audrie and I wanna pray for Matthew who needs a miracle for their nephew and the 8-year-old with autism. I wanna pray for them. I also wanna pray for the lady who lost her, her mother, she called on the 9th of March and she lost her precious mother. I wanted to pray for her. And I wanted to pray for those families who are going through who called in on that March 9th. Gracious Father, we just ask You to have Your way. Father, we just ask You to heal. We ask You to deliver. Lord, that precious baby, the lady that is pregnant with her baby and she is going through the, through some challenges, Father. We just ask You to pray, to bless her and bless that family, Father. We just ask You to give life and favor, Lord. We just ask You to open doors, we just ask You to bless those marriages, 30 and 31 years, Lord, we ask You to bless those marriages. Bless those families. Bless those children that are trying to take them with astrology and all of this wicked stuff. Father, You have Your way, the devil wants to take our children, but You have already prayed for them. Father, we just ask You to continue to have a support of our kids, what You have for them, Lord. So that the devil don’t have an opportunity to pull anything else. And Lord, we give You the glory. We just thank You for Brian, we thank You for them being back and getting through with the jet lag and we just thank You for Your grace and Your mercy. We just thank you for Your amazing blessing.