Blessing Others Instead of Cursing Them

 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. 5However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. (Deuteronomy 23:4-6; cf. Numbers 22-24)

Thoughts: Ammon and Moab were the children and grandchildren (at the same time) of Lot, who was Abraham's nephew.  They were related to the Israelites, but did not help them in their time of need.  Rather they hired a prophet, Baalam, to curse them.  But instead Baalam blessed them and even prophesied the coming of the Messiah ("a star will come out of Jacob a scepter will arise out of Israel." Nbrs 23:17).   This lack of hospitality- and even anti-hospitality in the time of the forming of a nation and in a time of deep vulnerability was not to be forgotten or taken lightly.  They were basically trying to use curses and witchcraft to protect them from God and the people of God.  The people of God were going around their territory anyway, but they still sought to curse them.   
     Hospitality is important.  It is not to be forgotten.  Nor is the hurting of the vulnerable (anti-hospitality) or those in need to be taken lightly or forgotten.  God does not think shallowly of those who try to hurt His children when they should try to help them.  We should seek to bless and not curse.  Romans 12:14 says, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them."  Jesus said, "Bless those who curse you."  (Lk. 6:28).  We are not put here to protect ourselves.  God can (both in Balaam's case and Jesus case on the cross) turn curses into blessings.  

Prayer: Lord, give me grace to show hospitality to my distant relatives, and even go out of my way to help them instead of cursing them out of fear.  

Rembrandt Balaam
Balaam was on his way to "curse" the Israelites when an angel disrupted them.