Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!” So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?” And he said, “No.” Numbers 22: 28-30, NKJV.
It is with a grateful heart dear God, that we come before the Throne of Grace with our petitions. We ask You to “come by” our study and teach us. For Christ’s sake, and in His name, we pray. Amen.
Yesterday, we opened a Parenthesis of Praise, in order to give God thanks for the blessings of another year on our website. I have only praise and gratitude to God for the way He has led us these two years, in spite of “everything!” Dear faithful web friends, I thank You so much, for your faithfulness, and for the opportunity to serve You. Today we will continue with the thought we shared on Tuesday, “Beware, Sin Will Make You Mad!”
We ended on the note that, “A divided will could be an early sign of madness.” What has caused this dividing of interests? What lies at the base of the prophet’s problem? Permit me to suggest that, “the root of all evil,” “the love of money” (1 Timothy 6: 10a), is doing its destructive work on his mind and life. He is aware that he can only do what the Lord allows him to do, but he wants the money that he could get from doing what Balak is asking him to do. The desire for Mammon has become more powerful than his love for the Pearl of Great Price. Now listen to the last part of 1 Timothy 6: 10, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (10b). Balaam has obviously “wandered from the faith.”
As we continue in Scene No. 4, we discover that indeed, this man, who goes under the name of “prophet” but could more adequately be described as a magician, was once, in the faith! Listen to what Balak says to Balaam: “For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed” (Numbers 22: 6c)! We know that God is the only one who can pronounce an effective blessing or curse, but oftentimes He will use His human agents to do His bidding. Obviously, in the past, Balaam had been used by God to do great wonders, and his fame had come to the attention of Balak. But there must have been a problem in Balaam’s life for Balak to believe that he could hire the prophet to do his bidding, in this case – to curse the people of God. He was obviously aware of Balaam’s ambition, as well as his ability.
Scene No. 5, brings us to one of the strangest scenes in the Bible; that of the mad prophet and the talking donkey! God allows Balaam to do what he wants to do. He allows him to go with the men on this mission. But God was not pleased! Little does Balaam know that he is about to make history, so strange, that several thousands of years later, people are still studying the phenomenon! “Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road” (21-23).
Is it not sad when dumb animals can see, what human beings, created in the image of God, fail to see? Sin is so insidious. It is like a snake’s venom that begins its work of death by deadening our senses, leaving us without feeling, without sight, and deaf, to what the Spirit is trying to say to us! But thank God, and good for Balaam, God is still working on him!
We will continue tomorrow.
NOTE: Since December 1, there has been a new “Article of the Month.” Be sure to read it!