Enticed, Balaam chose Balak’s offer of gold and prestige over the clear word of God. Greed is another word that we can use to describe him. He was so overtaken with greed that he could not discern the clear instruction of God. Before we get carried away with Balaam’s flaws, we should take a good look at ourselves too. Are we bugged by the same itch of Balaam? Are we enticed by riches and prestige to the point that we will compromise the truth we have gleaned from God’s Word? Do we only speak piously when people are around but live opposite to our words in their absence? Remember the congruency of what we say to people and what we do in their absence is a great gauge of our spirituality. No matter how spiritually sounding we may be, our words would not worth the vibration they cause if our actions are inconsistent with those words. Balaam could have sent Balak’s envoys packing home with the truth, but he did not. He schemed to make the emissaries believe that he had the ability to do what they came to seek him to do.
So
saddled on his faithful donkey, Balaam was on the way to Moab. God would
have nothing of it. He sent an angel with a drawn sword to block the donkey
from advancing. Three times the donkey was prevented from pressing forward even
with Balaam’s beating. The first time was when the donkey was forced to turn
into the field from the path. But Balaam beat her to get her back on track. The
second time was when the angel blocked the donkey on a narrow path between two
walls. To avoid the angel, the donkey pressed against one side of the wall
hurting Balaam’s feet. She was beaten again. Then the third time was when the
donkey found it impossible to go past the angel, so she just lay down. She
refused to move even though Balaam beat her with a stick.
It
was at this point that the LORD did an unusual thing. He opened the mouth
of the donkey and she spoke and protested. Even when the donkey opened her
mouth and spoke, Balaam was none the wiser. Any discerning person would be
taken aback by a talking donkey and would have paused and paid attention to
what had just happened. But Balaam seemed oblivious. He even had the gall
to answer the donkey’s protest by insisting that the animal had made a fool of
him. He told the donkey that if he had a sword in his hand, he would have
killed her. The donkey then asked Balaam if she had ever done something like
this before. The answer was no.
Yet
Balaam said that if he had a sword, he would have killed the donkey. But he was
so unaware that it was the donkey who had saved him from being killed by the
angel with the drawn sword. Here is where the irony lies. That a person
who claimed to have the power to speak for God could be so blind and
undiscerning. Even a donkey could read and see God’s intention, yet an acclaimed
seer could not. It is true that there is none who could be so blind who
chooses not to see. We are God’s instrument, and we must seek to obey and speak
only for him. Here is one last thought: when our path forward is blocked, pause
and reflect. We could be going down the wrong path. Be discerning as we journey
with God. Not all things negative are from the enemy!
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