Numbers 23:19 was one of my very first memory verses because of a professor at Detroit Bible College in 1980. This verse, or at least the essence of it, has never left me. In the English Standard Version it says, “God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it.”

Balaam’s Second oracle incorporates this verse in his speech to Balak, the enemy of God’s people. God’s promises are irrevocable. Paul says that very thing in Romans 11:29, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” I need to hear this every day. Just as God has been faithful to his promises to Israel, he too will be faithful to his promises to me. “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

No enemy, regardless of how persistent, will ever manipulate the living God, either by bribe or by magic or any other means, to change his attitude towards us. God loves us and has our best interest foremost in mind regardless of the circumstances we might be facing. Our task? Trust Him!