Numbers 23:27-28, 24:2, 5-6
“Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come, let me take you to another place.  Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.’  And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland…When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his oracle: ‘…How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!  Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters.’”

Galatians 3:13
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”

Psalm 109:26-28
“Help me, O Lord my God: save me in accordance with your love.  Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O Lord, have done it.  They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice.”

Faithful God, though the world stings in hate, you have not withdrawn your hand.

You have bowed beneath the curse and with a righteous reversal pronounced a blessing.  The oracle spoken over us now rings of hope.

By your Spirit plant a river garden in our wasteland.  Transform the valley of deceit and contempt into a passageway to your peace.

In the name of Christ Jesus, who can make life an innovation of death, we offer ourselves in prayer.

Listen to ‘Christ, of All My Hopes the Ground’ by Psalms and Hymns