I’ve seen it happen many times in my lifetime: someone sins and disgraces the Lord and the mission of the Church, and a flurry of exposure takes place. When sin is discovered in the camp, people want a pound of flesh to prove their point, punishing the guilty beyond the scope of the disclosure of their sin.

It starts with a trickle of confrontation, then becomes a flood of social media disgust, joining with other like-minded people to produce a curse of mutual agreement, not a process of redemption for the wrongdoer. It reminds me of what happened between the prophet Balaam and the king of the Moabites, Balak.

Balak wanted support for his fear of the Israelites taking his land and made a plea to other kings to join in his campaign against Israel. To support his effort, he asked Balaam to curse Israel.

Balak sent messengers to Balaam with this message, “Please come and curse these people for me because they are too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them from the land. I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on people you curse” (Numbers 22:6). The Lord responded with this message telling Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed!” (vs. 12).

If we think the Israelites were a perfect people without sin, we have not been reading our Bibles. They were imperfect, but a blessed people. The same holds true today in the Church, even for those who have failed miserably.

Balak’s request for Balaam to curse Israel went back and forth several times, each time with Balaam rejecting Balak’s offers of wealth if Balaam would curse Israel.

Finally, Balaam followed Balak’s messengers to deliver his final refusal. In the journey, Balaam’s donkey balked at taking Balaam to meet Balak. After Balaam beat his donkey several times in an attempt to get him to comply, the donkey spoke to Balaam in a human voice, delivering a message from the Lord. After this miraculous event, having a donkey speak to Balaam, “Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord who stood in his way, ‘I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.” But the angel of the Lord told Balaam, “Go with these men, but say only what I tell you to say.” So, Balaam went on with Balak’s officials” (vs. 34-35).

On his arrival, Balak asked Balaam. “Didn’t you believe me when I said I would reward you richly?” Balaam replied, “Look, now I have come, but I have no power to say whatever I want. I will speak only the message that God puts in my mouth.” (vs. 37-38).

The essence of Balaam’s message was this: “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom the Lord has not condemned? (23:8).

In a rage, after Balaam had rejected Balak’s request, he flew into a rage and told Balaam to leave, saying, “I called you to curse my enemies! Instead, you have blessed them three times. Now get out of here! Go back home!” (24:10-11). The only thing Balak said that had a whisper of wisdom was, “Go back home.”

This is a time for some people to “go back home” and let God do what only God can do with failed people. If we continue to dig up dirt on people who are already guilty, we will, at some point, become like the very people we curse. These unending announcements of a person’s sin will turn our “exposure” into a never-ending curse on their lives as we seek more likes on Facebook, more retweets on X, or another follow on a blog. In the end, if cursing not blessing, is leading our repose, we will be unable to see the blessing of God working its power out in the lives of broken people, ourselves included.