By: Cris Corzine-McCloskey

Growing up, mom would say, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Mom didn’t know it, but she was spouting theological truth. I will prove it with the story of Balak and Balaam (Numbers 22-24). Balak was King of Moab, and he discovered the Israelite’s camping in his territory. He sized them up, decided he couldn’t whip them, so he hired Balaam to curse them. Balaam had a talent that whomever he blessed would be blessed, and whomever he cursed would come to ruin.

Balaam reluctantly took the job, and joined King Balak on a cliff, overlooking the Israelite camp. However, when Balaam went to curse them, all he could say was a blessing. He told the King that he could not curse what God had blessed. The King got mad and took Balaam to another cliff; the same thing happened. Balaam again told the King he could not curse the Israelite’s because God had blessed them. This went on time after time. Balaam, nor anyone else, could curse what God had blessed.

Wow, no one could curse the people God had blessed. With that, one would think the Israelite’s would have waltzed into the Promised Land and lived happily ever after. They did not. Instead, they died in that wilderness, a cursed people. So who cursed them? They cursed themselves. They murmured and complained that God had brought them out into the wilderness to let them die, until finally, God gave them over to that fate. They literally cursed themselves because they wouldn’t shut up during the hard times.

See any parallel to our lives today? Ironically, Psychology has now validated this, and they call it the phenomenon of Self Fulfilling Prophecy. Even in the natural, people have a very hard time rising above their own negative confession. People tell their kids they won’t amount to anything, then when they don’t, they say “I knew it all along.” Did they know it, or did they help cause it? You decide.

How about this one, “I hate my job.” Tell yourself that often enough, and guess what, you will be miserable, because you are no longer seeing anything good, and trust me, there is good. The list of these common murmurings is endless, and none of it lines up with what God says or wants for our lives. Just like the Israelite’s, as believers, we are a people blessed by God, and we either need to put His word in our mouths, or at the very least, shut up, and not make a bad situation worse by murmuring and complaining. Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church, says that “We cannot afford to have a thought in our head about ourselves that God doesn’t have in His.” What would God say about you? You are a blessed person, and whatever He blessed cannot be cursed by anyone…other than yourself. So if you can’t say anything nice, just zipth thy lipth! Your future may depend on it.

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