How can I curse?

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? – Numbers 23.7-8

Once Balaam got his heart right he really got it right. God told him that if he went on to Balak God would give him the words to say. But when he got there Balak told Balaam what to say. ‘Curse Jacob for me and defy Israel.’

I love Balaam’s response – ‘how shall I curse who God has not cursed or how shall I defy whom the Lord has not defied?’ As a prophet Balaam knew he was God’s mouthpiece. He knew he could not decide who to curse and who not to curse.

I think we could all learn from that. There are plenty of Christians who are more than happy to jump on the bandwagon and to speak evil of people just because they don’t like their culture or politics or nationality or whatever.

I think especially about politics. Anyone on the ‘other side’ is fair game for our curses and taunts and name-calling and condemnation. The union of politics and faith causes too many to ignore Bible principles when it comes to politics.

How can we use our pulpits to curse those political figures with whom we disagree? We had better be sure that we ‘preach the word’ and not our political cursings and condemnations.