God Turns Curses into Blessings (Nehemiah 13:2)

helloHOPE - God turns curses into blessings

One of the facets of God’s character that is so amazing and beyond my comprehension is the way that He redeems what is lost or broken. When an item in our house gets damaged or broken, I toss it out. Yet, God takes what is broken in our world and in our hearts and weaves His beauty into it. As I was reading through my morning devotion recently, these words jumped off the page:

But our God turned the curse into a blessing. (Nehemiah 13:2)

I was so intrigued by this phrase that I looked in my Bible to find out more and found that the backstory is actually located in Numbers 22-24. There was a king named Balak who reigned over the land that was situated adjacent to the land where God’s people, Israel, were living. Feeling threatened by the obvious blessing that was on the people of God, Balak hired Balaam, a prophet, to put a curse on God’s people in exchange for a great financial reward. 

Balaam asked God if he could place the curse, and he heard a firm “no.” Balak persisted and finally, Balaam agreed to meet with him under the condition that he would only say what God told him to say. During their meeting, of course, Balak asked Balaam to curse God’s people. And each time he asked, Balaam spoke a blessing over the people of God. Balak was infuriated, but the blessings continued to come.

God turned the curse into a blessing not once, but three times!!

Isn’t that what He does? No weapon formed against us shall prosper. He has taken the curse on Himself. For every curse, he’s the cure. His love and devotion to us as His people is to turn curses, what is broken in our world as a result of the fall, into a blessing.

So next time I don’t know how to handle news or am feeling scared about trying a new treatment plan for our daughter, I will remember this. He turns curses into blessings. When I am scared about the future or hurt by the past, I will remember His redeeming character. When I am overwhelmed by my circumstances, I will call on our God who turns curses into blessings.

What do you need the blessing of God on in your life?