6.23.24 Willisburg Bulletin
God’s Word is Strict
In Numbers 22, Balak, the King of Moab had seen the success Israel was having and was afraid. It was unbeknownst to Balak, that God was the reason Israel was conquering all the other lands. Wanting to secure his land, Balak sent elders to Balaam (a non-Israelite prophet and diviner-one who foretells the future) to try to “hire” him to curse Israel. This time he refuse and said God refused him permission. For a second time, Balak sent princes and basically offered anything including more honor if he would just help him against Israel. Balaam said, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.” But had the princes stay the night so he could converse with God. God came to Balaam in the night saying if the men called him, he could go, but was only to do as God says. The next morning, Balaam didn’t wait for them to call, he saddled up on a donkey and went. God became angry so an Angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against Balaam with a drawn sword. The donkey saw the Angel (not seen by Balaam yet) and turned aside. Balaam struck the donkey to get her to turn back on the path, but the donkey saw the Angel with the drawn sword again, causing her to push herself against the wall, making Balaam’s foot smashed. He then again struck the donkey, but seeing the Angel again, the donkey just laid down. Balaam got mad and struck the donkey a third time, but this time, the Lord spoke saying, why have you struck me. Balaam blamed the donkey for abusing him. When God opened his eyes the Angel stood there with a drawn sword and He said I am the donkey who has transported you, Balaam realized he had sinned and everything that had happened all made sense to him now. He realized the donkey wasn’t just being stubborn, there was a reason behind it all. God ended up still letting him go to Moab to Balak, but only speaking what God commanded him.
How Do We Compare?
When thinking about this encounter, it is clear God has a plan and a purpose behind every little detail. God knew what He was doing, even when Balaam did not. Balaam was clueless and didn’t understand why the donkey was acting weird. Are there times in your life when things seem maybe a little weird, leaving you wondering why? Maybe God has a purpose behind that detail and He wanted you to encounter that for a reason. Looking back we can see what God meant by those little details. Sometimes in the moment, we like to fight against and blame the exact person/thing that is actually helping you. God was transporting Balaam and saving him from dying by the sword, even if he didn’t know it. Sometimes God will be causing things to happen or detours to occur to transport us to where we need to go and be saving us from possibly a life or death situation. God knows where we need to go and He will lead us there, if we let Him. It takes us being willing and finally seeing God’s plan to realize God does mean well. Even though Balaam is not a righteous man, he did realize God controlled his moves. The same is with us, God controls our moves, if we allow Him to guide us and we actually do what He says. His Word is our guidebook and map to Heaven. If we don’t allow it to enter our hearts and mind, giving us direction, then we’re allowing Satan to control our destiny straight to Hell and we may not even know it at the time. The Lord’s opened Balaam’s eyes to see the reason why He was “being stubborn”. When we read the Word, our eyes are opened to the path of our safe haven.