Curse-turned-blessing

Happy Tuesday everybody! Let's get to work.

Here's the question and answer from Monday:
Who was the tetrarch who was perplexed because some people were saying John had been raised from the dead? (Luke 9)
Luke 9:7 7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead

And here's today question:
What did Nehemiah do to ensure that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day? (Nehemiah 13:18)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Nehemiah 13 is an extensive chapter, a fitting ending for this "Ezra-Nehemiah" book. There seem to be a million things that I could emphasize from this chapter. But I'd like to focus on the one phrase that Ezra himself seems to want to emphasize.

Verse two, the last bit, says, "(Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)" This little bit of reflection is a departure for Ezra. John's gospel is full of these little, parenthetical asides, so we expect it when we read it there. But it's almost jarring in its context here.

What Ezra is referring to is the Balaam incident, where Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites but he "saw the light" and would not curse those whom God was blessing. In that way, God transformed what one person intended as a curse into what God intended, a blessing.

What a nice little reminder God has for us "Year of the Bible-ers" tucked away in this little passage: God is willing and able to take what someone has intended for evil and turn it into something good. I wonder how often we look at our "curses" and only see the curse. How often do we look for the curse-turned-blessing? Perhaps part of what transforms a curse into a blessing is actually our recognition of it. Could this transformation possibly depend on us searching for God in the midst of the curse??

Hmm. . . something for me to think about!
Allison