Breaking a Curse

By ChanMin Chung

Sunny and Salma met during orientation for first-year students at a university in the Middle East.

Sunny, who is from Asia, is a “Waldensian student”, a Seventh-day Adventist studying at a secular university in the Adventist Church’s Middle East and North Africa Union.

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Salma is a local student who grew up in a non-Christian family.

The two young women instantly became friends. They shared the same classes and lived in the same neighborhood. Salma soon learned that her new friend was an Adventist Christian. She had been taught to be wary of Christians, but Sunny seemed so kind and honest.

As their friendship grew, Salma accepted an invitation to attend a Friday evening meeting in Sunny’s home. Salma met other Adventists at the meeting, and she liked the friendly conversations. Soon she began to enjoy singing hymns and praying with the group every Friday evening.

After a year, Sunny invited Salma to visit an Adventist church, and she agreed. But Salma faced harsh criticism from family and friends.

“What did you do there?” one said.

“Does this mean you have become a Christian?” asked another.

Family members warned that they would be cursed if she became a Christian.

Salma was worried, but she kept going to church. She even joined the youth choir and participated in health seminars. Her Adventist friends prayed for her.

One Friday evening, the group watched a video about Jesus’s life and, afterward, Salma asked to study the book of Acts.

“I was surprised because Salma hadn’t been interested in Bible studies for about a year”, Sunny said.

Salma began weekly Bible studies, but she insisted that she had no desire to be baptized. She worried that her family would be cursed.

One Sabbath, Salma participated in a women’s ministries retreat where each woman had to select a heart-shaped card and meditate on a Bible verse written inside. She prayerfully chose a card and opened it. Inside, she read, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Instantly Salma realized that she didn’t need to worry about a curse falling on her family. She stood up and announced, voice trembling, that she wanted to be baptized.

“This is not the end but the beginning”, Sunny said. “After I finish my studies, I plan to stay here to develop a lifelong friendship with people like Salma. I pray for God to send more people like her to me”.

ChanMin Chung is communication coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Union.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought: Ellen G. White, “Instructed in the Law of God”, pages 661-668, in Prophets and Kings. “

“Now they must manifest faith in His promises. God had accepted their repentance; they were now to rejoice in the assurance of sins forgiven and their restoration to divine favor. …

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Every true turning to the Lord brings abiding joy into the life. When a sinner yields to the influence of the Holy Spirit, he sees his own guilt and defilement in contrast with the holiness of the great Searcher of hearts. He sees himself condemned as a transgressor. But he is not, because of this, to give way to despair; for his pardon has already been secured. He may rejoice in the sense of sins forgiven, in the love of a pardoning heavenly Father. It is God’s glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them from sin, and to clothe them with the garments of salvation” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 668.

Discussion Questions:

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The “joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10) serves as a reminder that it is God’s will that we rejoice and enjoy life. Most of all, it is not just any kind of joy, but it is the joy that comes because we know God and the reality of His love. Delighting in God, in His goodness, and rejoicing because of everything God has provided for us is something that we should strive to be doing every day. Moreover, delighting in God gives us the strength to face the day and to handle what comes our way.

Read Nehemiah 8:13-18. What happened here, and what does it tell us about the people and their leaders at this time?

The Joy of the Lord

The next day the leaders of the people come to Ezra in order to learn more from God’s book. This initiative demonstrated by the leaders showed their desire to lead the community toward God. They understood that leading the people the right way would not happen if they themselves did not seek God and seek knowledge from Him.

Read Leviticus 23:39-43. What were the Israelites commanded to do, and why?

Notice that in Nehemiah 8:15, the texts refer to the fact that what they were doing was according to what is “written”. We see here another example of how seriously they now wanted to obey the Word of God, ideally because after decades in captivity they had learned their lesson about disobedience. Also, in the texts in Leviticus they were to celebrate the feast and to “rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days” (Lev. 23:40, NKJV). In other words, as they remember God’s acts of mercy and grace and salvation, the people were to rejoice in what the Lord had done for them.

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When Ezra opens up the Word of God, the Hebrew Torah, the people stand up. Before Ezra reads, he blesses God. After he reads, the people respond with “Amen, Amen!” (Neh. 8:6; NKJV) in unison as they lift their hands toward heaven. They then bow their heads down and worship with their faces to the ground.

Read Nehemiah 8:9-12. Why did the leaders tell the people not to “mourn nor weep”?

The People’s Response

“So, in later years, when the law of God was read in Jerusalem to the captives returned from Babylon, and the people wept because of their transgressions, the gracious words were spoken: “Mourn not…. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:9-10” – Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 281.

As the people were listening to the words of God, they were struck by their own sinfulness and began to weep. When God reveals Himself to us and we begin to grasp that God is full of love, goodness, mercy, and faithfulness, our own inadequacies and failure to be what we should be come to the forefront. Seeing God’s holiness through His Word causes us to see our terribleness in a new light. This realization caused the people of Israel to weep and mourn, but they were not to sorrow, “for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). In other words, despite their failures, they could trust in the power of God.

This was also a special day, a holy day, the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), on which short blasts of the trumpets signaled the importance of “heart” preparation for the judgment of the Lord (Day of Atonement, celebrated on the 10th day of the month of Tishri). The blowing of the trumpets signaled a call to stand before God and repent. Because the day was designed to remind the people to turn to God, the weeping and mourning is understandable. But the leaders reminded them that once they had repented, God had heard them, and therefore it was time to rejoice in God’s forgiveness.

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You can view an in-depth discussion of “Violating the Spirit of the Law” in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:

You may download an MP4 video file, and audio file or a PDF lesson outline from the HopeSS site.

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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