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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn't you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?"
"Well, I have come to you now," Balaam replied. "But can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth."
Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the princes who were with him. The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he saw part of the people.
Numbers 22:36-41
Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever He reveals to me I will tell you."
Then he went off to a barren height.
Numbers 23:1-3
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the opening thirty-five verses of Numbers, chapter 22, we were introduced to a very nervous nation of Moab as the Israelites encamped outside their border. They were very much aware of the recent string of victories Israel had against their adversaries and Moab felt it was next, so much so that it’s king, Balak, summoned a renowned diviner named Balaam to place a curse on Israel. Balaam was thought to have special power over the gods but he didn’t quite understand that he was dealing with the one true God.
We saw where Balak sent a group of messengers to Balaam with a command to come and see him for the purpose of placing a curse on Israel, a request that the diviner rejected the first time in obedience to what God commanded.
But Balak wouldn’t be rejected so easily and so he sent a second group to Balaam, this one much more distinguished than the first. They brought a new message from Moab’s king, promising Balaam riches if he would just come and do what he was asked to do. Once again, Balaam refused to go, making it clear that he wouldn’t do anything that God didn’t command, even if Balak gave him a palace filled with silver and gold.
So Balaam went to the Lord again and this time was given permission to go with the Moabite entourage as long as he was summoned by them and only said what God told him to say.
The next morning, the scriptures tell us that he saddled his donkey and set out for Moab with Balak’s men, although they had not told him to go. This disobedience angered God who confronted Balaam with a sword-wielding angel, an angel that only Balaam’s donkey could see at first. Balaam had agreed to do what the Lord told him to do (v. 20) but his actions spoke louder than his words.
Well, after three separate incidents where Balaam’s donkey acted in ways to save his life from the angel, each leading to a beating, the Lord opened his master’s eyes and Balaam repented of his sins. This led to God allowing him to proceed but still with the demand that Balaam only say what He told him to say.
When he arrived in Moab, we read where Balak chastises Balaam for not coming to him immediately and asks if there was any failure to understand the riches he had promised. Balaam responds to this by saying this:
"Well, I have come to you now but can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth."
Balaam should have also added that he wasn’t to do anything the Lord didn’t tell him to do but he left that out. It’s obvious he wanted to do his own thing still because he tells Balak to "build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me” at “Kiriath Huzoth" where Balak had "sacrificed cattle and sheep" giving "some to Balaam and the princes who were with him".
Did God authorize this, a receiving of pagan sacrifices along with the construction of pagan altars and the offerings that would be made upon them?
We know he didn’t because the Lord would have never authorized such a thing. And in this instance, He didn’t tell Balaam to say that to Balak.
Again, Balaam’s behavior was showing that his promise to God was moot. His actions spoke louder than his words. It clearly showed that Balaam was still a believer in pagan ritual although he was carrying on conversations with and professing loyalty to the God of Israel.
Well, we read where Balak did as Balaam asked and then they both “offered a bull and a ram on each altar" while performing a pagan ritual. Once the sacrifices were complete, Balaam gives the Moabite king the following command:
"Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you."
And with that, Balaam left and went “off to a barren height”.
Through his actions in this passage, we see that Balaam fails to see where he has done anything wrong. He doesn’t understand that serving God is more than just saying the right things while not being committed to surrender your life to Him.
Friends, the Lord makes it clear that He expects anyone who comes to Him to lay down their former life, a life rife with sinful habits, so to begin a new life in Him, a life that is fully centered on His will and way. He demands that believers fully center and focus themselves on what He wants them to do and say with nothing but total obedience and submission acceptable. When it comes to our actions, He will settle for nothing less than a complete alignment with His holy Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Everything we do should honor and glorify the Lord who made us and sustains us as our actions speak loudly for Him and show that we were indeed created in His own image (Genesis 1:26).
As you read this, do you find yourself like Balaam, pledging to be faithful to God through your words but then acting in ways that show your words are shallow and empty?
If so, now is the time to change your life for giving God lip service will never cut it. He wants us to serve Him in a way that shows we respect and deference to His Word and Way through modeling the life of His Son Jesus, the One who was and is the Way and Truth and Life (John 14:6).
In the end translation, our talk as believers need never be cheap. Rather, it can be extremely powerful and valuable when we allow the Lord to shape our words and couple them with the associated holy and righteous behavior that He desires.
For it’s then and only then that our actions will truly speak louder than our words.
In tomorrow’s message, we are going to see how God gets Balaam’s attention in order to turn him from his sinful ways, all the while using him as an instrument to minister to Balak and the Moabite people. I hope you’ll come back for that study.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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