Welcome to Pamoja Ministry. There are miracles
you remember because you saw them happen. You
remember the door that opened. You remember the
prayer that was answered. You remember the moment
the situation changed. You remember when the
doctor gave you different news. You remember
when the provision arrived. You remember when
the enemy moved. You remember when the storm
finally became quiet. And because you witnessed
those moments, you knew exactly what to call
them. Divine intervention. But lately, another
question has been sitting heavily in my heart.
What about the interventions you never saw? What
about the danger you never knew was approaching?
What about the conversation that happened somewhere
you were not present? What about the decision
someone intended to make against you? but mysteriously
changed? What about the door God refused to allow
you to walk through? What about the delay that
frustrated you but kept you from arriving somewhere
at the wrong moment? What about the relationship
that never developed? What about the plan of
the enemy that collapsed before it ever reached
your life? What about the battle heaven fought
for you that you never even knew existed. Because
if we only thank God for the interventions we
recognize, perhaps we are thanking him for only
a fraction of what his mercy has actually done.
There may be chapters of your testimony you cannot
tell because you never knew they happened. And
scripture gives us an extraordinary picture of
this mystery. Israel is traveling toward the
promise. They have survived Egypt. They have
crossed the Red Sea. They have walked through
the wilderness. And now, without their knowledge,
a king named Balak becomes terrified of them.
Balak has watched what has happened to the nations
before Israel, and he understands that military
strength alone may not be enough. So he chooses
another strategy. He sent for a man named Balaam,
and his request is simple. Curse them. Now stop
there. Because while Balak is planning, Israel
is living. While messengers are traveling, Israel
is living. While negotiations are taking place,
Israel is living. While Balaam is being offered
rewards, Israel is living. While somebody is
discussing how to curse them Israel apparently
does not know any of this is happening. They
are below Balak and Balaam are above and Suddenly
the story becomes uncomfortable because it reveals
something about life Not every battle announces
itself not every enemy introduces himself not
every attack arrives with a warning There are
things happening beyond the limits of what human
eyes can see. And yet, God sees them. Let's explore.
Part one, God can defend you before you know
you need defense. Balak brings Balam to a place
where he can see Israel. Altars are built. Sacrifices
are offered. Everything appears position for
Balam to pronounce the curse Balak wants. Israel
is below. Completely vulnerable from a human
perspective because they do not even know what
is being attempted against them. But Balam opens
his mouth and something unexpected happens. Instead
of cursing Israel, he blesses them. Balak is
furious. That is not what he paid for. So he
takes Balam somewhere else. Perhaps from another
angle it will work. Another place. Another attempt.
More altars. More sacrifices. But again, the
curse cannot come. And Balam eventually declares,
How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not
denounced? Think about that. Israel did not have
to climb the mountain and stop Balaam. Israel
did not have to discover Balak's strategy. Israel
did not have to organize an emergency prayer
meeting specifically against a plot they knew
nothing about. Israel did not have to defend
themselves from this particular attempt. Why?
Because God was already in the conversation before
Israel knew they needed intervention. God had
intervened, and perhaps somebody listening to
me needs to hear this. God does not need you
to know about a battle in order for him to fight
it. We sometimes think God can only intervene
after we identify the problem and present it
to him in prayer. And yes, scripture calls us
to pray. We should pray. We should watch. We
should seek God. We should exercise wisdom. and
discernment. But the sovereignty of God is not
limited by the boundaries of our awareness. There
are things you don't know to pray about. There
are dangers you don't know exist. There are conversations
you cannot hear. There are motives you cannot
discern. There are plans you cannot investigate.
There are roads ahead you cannot see. but God
can see beyond the horizon of your knowledge.
And that means your protection has never depended
entirely upon your ability to detect every threat.
There are times when divine intervention begins
before human awareness. Let's now explore part
two, when the curse becomes a blessing. But there
is something even more astonishing in Balam's
story. God does not merely prevent Balam from
cursing Israel. The mouth that was hired to curse
them begins blessing them. Now that is divine
intervention. Balak wanted one outcome. God produced
another. The intention was destruction. The result
became blessing. And this reminds me of Joseph.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it
for good. Again, we encounter the mystery. Human
beings can have intentions. The enemy can have
intentions. Circumstances can move in directions
that frighten us. But none of those things possesses
ultimate authority over the purposes of God.
And I want to say this carefully because faith
does not mean pretending evil does not exist.
Betrayal is real. Injustice is real. Pain is
real. Human beings can make destructive choices.
Scripture never asks us to call evil good. But
Scripture repeatedly reveals a God who is capable
of overruling what evil intended to accomplish.
Balak says, curse them. God says no. Balak changes
locations. God still says no. Balak tries again.
God still says no. And eventually, Balaam declares
something extraordinary. There is no divination
against Jacob. no evil omens against Israel.
In other words, what God has blessed cannot simply
be overturned because someone else has decided
otherwise. And imagine Israel below the mountain,
children playing, families preparing meals, people
tending their belongings, people discussing ordinary
life, and above them a battle concerning them
is being fought. They cannot hear it. They cannot
see it. But God is present in it. Maybe there
were days in your life exactly like that. You
went to work. You came home. You ate dinner.
You went to sleep. You woke up the next morning.
Nothing dramatic happened. You called it an ordinary
day. But what if heaven called it protection?
What if something did not happen because God
said no? Let's explore part three. Lord, open
his eyes. Second Kings gives us another remarkable
picture. The king of Aram is at war with Israel.
Every time he develops a strategy, Elisha somehow
knows what is happening and warns the king of
Israel. Eventually, the king of Aram becomes
convinced there must be a traitor among his own
officers, but someone tells him, no one, my lord
the king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells
the king of Israel the very words you speak in
your bedroom. So the king sends horses, chariots,
and a strong military force to capture Elisha.
They arrive at night. They surround the city.
Early the next morning, Elisha's servant walks
outside, and everywhere he looks, soldiers, horses,
chariots. The city is surrounded. The servant
panics. Oh no, my lord, what shall we do? And
Elisha gives one of the most extraordinary responses
in scripture. Don't be afraid. Those who are
with us are more than those who are with them.
Imagine being the servant. You look again. Enemy
soldiers everywhere. You look at Elisha. Two
people. And Elisha says, we have more. At that
moment the servant has a problem. He is interpreting
reality only through what his eyes can see. So
Elisha prays. Open his eyes, Lord, so that he
may see. And God opens the servant's eyes. Suddenly,
he sees the hills full of horses and chariots
of fire surrounding Elisha. Now notice something.
The heavenly army did not appear when the servant's
eyes opened. It was already there. His eyes simply
became capable of seeing what had been present
all along. That is a revelation. Sometimes prayer
does not cause God to arrive. Sometimes prayer
awakens us to the fact that God was already there.
The servant thought they were surrounded. He
was correct. He simply did not realize the enemy
was also surrounded. And perhaps there are moments
in your life when you are counting everything
coming against you while heaven is saying you
have not counted everything standing with you.
You see the problem. God sees the provision.
You see the opposition. God sees the armies of
heaven. You see the closed door. God sees what
was behind it. You see the delay. God sees what
the delay prevented. You see what happened. God
sees what didn't happen. And sometimes the greatest
limitation in our understanding of divine intervention
is that we only know the history we experienced.
We do not know the histories God prevented. Let's
analyze part four. Satan has asked for you. Then
Jesus says something to Peter that takes this
mystery even deeper. Simon, Simon, Satan has
asked to sift all of you as wheat. Imagine hearing
that from Jesus. Peter did not tell Jesus that
Satan had requested him. Peter apparently did
not know. There was something happening concerning
Peter that Peter himself had not perceived. But
Jesus continues. But I have prayed for you, Simon,
that your faith may not fail. There it is again.
Before Peter fully understood the battle, intercession
had already begun. Before Peter denied Jesus,
Jesus had prayed. Before Peter wept bitterly,
Jesus had prayed. before Peter understood how
violently his faith was about to be shaken. Jesus
had prayed, and there is something profoundly
comforting here. Peter still experienced the
sifting. Peter still stumbled. Peter still denied
Jesus. Divine intervention did not mean Peter
experienced no battle. But the battle did not
accomplish everything it wanted. Satan wanted
Peter's destruction. Jesus prayed for Peter's
faith. Peter fell, but Peter returned. Peter
wept, but Peter returned. Peter failed, but Peter
returned. And later, the man who denied Jesus
before a servant girl stood publicly at Pentecost
and proclaimed Christ. Why? because the sifting
was not allowed to become the ending. Jesus had
already said, when you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers. Do you see it? Jesus was speaking
about Peter's restoration before Peter's failure
happened. That is divine intervention. God can
have restoration prepared before you even understand
the battle you are entering. And this brings
us back to something we discovered earlier. God
does not merely know what you are going through.
He knows what is coming. And sometimes his intervention
is already operating in tomorrow while you are
still living today. Let's examine part five.
What didn't happen? Maybe this is the question
we rarely ask. We spend so much time asking God
about what happened. Why did this happen? Why
did that door close? Why did I experience that
loss? Why did that relationship end? Why did
that season become so difficult? Those questions
are human. And sometimes God gives us answers.
Sometimes he does not. But perhaps gratitude
requires another question. What didn't happen?
What did God stop that I never saw? What conversation
changed because God intervened? What road did
he keep me from traveling? What danger passed
without touching me? What decision was reversed
somewhere I was not present? What plan collapsed
before reaching my door? What did the enemy intend
that God refused to permit? What prayer did somebody
pray for me at the exact moment I needed it?
without knowing why they felt compelled to pray.
How many times have angels been dispatched according
to God's purposes while I knew nothing about
it? How many times did God say, no father, we
may never know? And perhaps that is why eternity
will contain surprises. Maybe one day God will
show us not only the prayers he answered visibly,
but the dangers he prevented invisibly. Not only
the doors he opened, But the doors he closed,
not only the people he sent, but the people he
kept away. Not only the battles he helped us
win, but the battles he never allowed to reach
us. And perhaps we will discover that some of
the days we called ordinary were actually saturated
with mercy. You drove home safely, ordinary,
maybe mercy. You arrive late somewhere, frustrating.
Maybe mercy. A plan suddenly changed. Annoying.
Maybe mercy. A relationship never developed.
Disappointing. Maybe mercy. A door refused to
open no matter how hard you pushed. Confusing.
Maybe mercy. I am not saying that every inconvenience
is secretly a supernatural intervention. We should
be careful not to invent spiritual explanations
Scripture has not given us. But I am saying this.
Our inability to see God's activity does not
mean God is inactive. And Scripture gives us
enough evidence to know that God can work beyond
our awareness. Israel did not know about Balaam.
God did. Elisha's servant could not see the army.
God had already positioned it. Peter did not
understand the sifting ahead. Jesus had already
prayed. And maybe there are things concerning
you that you do not know, but God knows. Let's
conclude with this revelation. The God who goes
before you. This may be the revelation beneath
all of it. We often think of divine intervention
as God arriving when trouble arrives. But scripture
repeatedly describes God differently. He goes
before us. Deuteronomy says, the Lord himself
goes before you and will be with you. He will
never leave you nor forsake you. Think about
those words. He goes before you. That means when
you arrive tomorrow, God is not arriving with
you. He has already gone before you. When you
enter the room, he has gone before you. When
you face the conversation, he has gone before
you. When you enter the season you are afraid
of, he has gone before you. When you reach the
place you cannot yet see, he has gone before
you. Maybe that is why you don't need to know
everything ahead of you. Because the one carrying
you already knows the road. And maybe, This is
the mystery of divine intervention at its deepest
level. Sometimes God intervenes when you cry
out. Sometimes God intervenes before you cry
out. And sometimes God intervenes so completely
before the danger reaches you that you never
discover there was anything to cry about. So
tonight, perhaps our prayer should not only be,
Lord, thank you for what you have done. Maybe
we should also say Lord, thank you for what I
never saw. Thank you for the battles I never
knew existed. Thank you for the doors you closed
without explaining yourself. Thank you for the
dangers you prevented. Thank you for the conversations
you entered before my name was ever mentioned.
Thank you for the plans you overturned. Thank
you for the roads you redirected. Thank you for
the prayers you answered before I even knew what
to ask. Thank you for going before me. Thank
you for standing behind me. Thank you for surrounding
me. Thank you for carrying me. And thank you
for every divine intervention I will never know
happened. Because maybe the testimony of your
life is much bigger than the miracles you can
remember. Maybe there are entire chapters of
God's faithfulness. you never saw.