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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord, my God. Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the Lord will tell me."
That night God came to Balaam and said, "Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you."
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.
Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again.
Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam and he was angry and beat her with his staff.
Then the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"
Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."
The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"
"No," he said.
Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
The angel of the Lord asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her."
Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back."
The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you."
So Balaam went with the princes of Balak."
Numbers 22:18-35
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we continue to look at the story of Balaam, we see where he once again goes before God, seeking guidance as to how he should respond to the latest proposal by Balak, the king of Moab. After once again asking Balak’s representatives to stay the night while he consulted with the Lord, we find him receiving the following command:
"Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you."
So Balaam "got up in the morning” and “saddled his donkey” before heading out with the “princes of Moab". The scriptures tell us that this angered God and so He sent “an angel” who "stood in the road to oppose" Balaam.
Why was God angry?
The answer is found in His command for He only told Balaam to go if Balak’s representatives summoned him. A different translation of verse 20 adds some clarity to this and validates what God expected:
And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” NKJV
The scriptures don’t tell us that Balak’s men had called Balaam to go with them. Rather, perhaps more focused on the rewards that had been promised than on what the Lord commanded, Balaam got up, saddled up his donkey, and set out only to now encounter the “angel of the Lord” on the path before him, an angel who was armed and authorized to kill if needed.
As Balaam rode ahead, he couldn’t see the danger ahead but his trusted donkey could and so we read that when the beast of burden “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". The sudden diversion was done out of loyalty to protect her master but Balaam didn’t see it that way and so he beat his donkey so to get her back on the road.
You know, maybe we have been walking into danger in our own lives at one time or another, a danger we were blind to but not to someone else who may have tried to warn us only to receive our rebuke. It can be easy to criticize Balaam in this story but perhaps we may be more like him than we want to admit.
Well, after the donkey was beaten back up onto the road, the scriptures tell us that the angel of the Lord "stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides". Once again, Balaam was oblivious to the peril ahead but the donkey wasn't. She saw the danger clearly and took evasive action, pressing "close to the wall" which crushed “Balaam's foot against it". Placing the blame on his donkey and unable to see what she saw, Balaam beat her a second time.
And so we read that the angel of the Lord confronts Balaam and his trusty donkey for yet a third time, standing "in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left". In other words, there was nowhere to maneuver or escape, no path to evade the angel and his judgment. Given this, the donkey did the best it could do, stopping dead and laying down on the road under Balaam, a move that made him angry once again and so he "beat her with his staff".
Well, at this point it was obvious to the Lord that Balaam just wasn't going to get what was happening without some form of intervention. And so since the donkey was more in tune with the situation than her master, the Lord miraculously gave her the power to speak.
Friends, this is what makes this account more than just some kind of folk tale. For the donkey would never have been able to speak on her own because donkeys lack the natural ability to do that. But through a Lord who can make all things possible, the ordinary animal became the extraordinary instrument that God used to gain Balaam's attention.
So what did the donkey say?
We read where she confronts her master by asking a question:
"What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"
Can you imagine the expression on Balaam’s face when he heard this?
He had to be in a temporary state of disbelief but it didn’t last long because he quickly provides an answer to his donkey’s question:
“You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."
Then the donkey said this in reply:
"Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"
In other words, the donkey was trying to get Balaam to see that if she was acting in a way that was atypical, there must have been a good reason for it.
Making Balaam think about what had happened and his history with the donkey, he simply acknowledged that she had never behaved like that in the past. God had begun working on Balaam through the donkey that had gotten his attention. Now, he was ready to fully open up his eyes to the matter at hand.
In the message today, we find God sending a sign to Balaam in the way of his suddenly disobedient donkey, a disobedience that was reflective of what had gotten him into trouble. As we continue in this passage, we see where it was time for an awakening.
For we read where "the Lord opened Balaam's eyes" allowing him to see the very danger that the donkey had seen prior, "the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn". Balaam's reaction was one of sudden, absolute repentance as he "bowed low and fell facedown" before hearing this from the angel:
"Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her."
This prompted Balaam to humbly enter into confession, saying:
"I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back."
In other words, Balaam was now ready to do what the Lord wanted and so he received the following instructions from his God:
"Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you."
And with that, Balaam "went with the princes of Balak."
You know, this Balaam story really gets my attention because if you’re like me, the Lord has had to move at times in my life to get my attention, sometimes through words spoken from someone else, words that opened my eyes and convicted me of my sinfulness and refusal to see what God wanted me to see.
You see, over thirty-three years ago, I was not a person that the Lord must have favored much. I was like countless other people out there who have led themselves to believe they were a good person. After all, I didn't drink or smoke. I had never done drugs or gotten into any trouble outside of a speeding ticket or two. And I always tried to help others whenever the opportunity presented itself.
In my mind, I wondered what could possibly be wrong with me.
The problem was that I based my self assessment on my standards. I saw that I was a good person based on my definition of good, even though there was plenty of things morally wrong with me too/.
For I loved to use profanity, knowing all the words and when to use them, even taking the Lord’s name in vain. I had a rather quick temper and would easily be angered by others who may have done me wrong. And I can honestly say that I wasn’t the nicest person when it came to dealing with others around me, especially if I was in competition with them in some way.
My attitude and non-Christian lifestyle resulted in bad things happening in my life. I was a reckless driver and received several speeding tickets over a two or three month period. I also had a couple of accidents because of my aggressiveness and lack of focus on the road. And just as I was driving on the highways with reckless abandon, so too did I “drive” through my life the same way. I ended up going through a divorce after nearly ten years of marriage and was left abandoned and alone in the aftermath, even though I didn’t see any of it as being my fault at the time. After all, it was easier to blame others than take accountability for myself.
In the end translation, the Lord was trying to get my attention but, like Balaam, I was unable to see any of it. I saw problems everywhere else except within me where they really were.
Well, God didn't send a talking donkey into my life but He did speak to me through a beautiful woman I ran into while volunteering at a local elementary school. I didn't even know her first name when we first met and our conversations were only professional for several months but then one day, we talked about what we were going to do for the upcoming weekend and after that conversation, I decided to ask her to go to dinner with me. I sent her flowers to the school and she accepted the date where I learned her first name, Grace. Later, I would come to see that her middle name was Grace because her first name had to be “Amazing”.
You see, Grace told me that if we were going to have a relationship, God would have to be first and I told her that was fine with me, even though I felt a churning anxiety inside grounded in guilt over not having lived for the Lord since I graduated from high school. Questions came fast and furious to my mind:
Would God accept me back?
If so, would I remember any of what I learned when I was younger?
I hadn't been to church regularly for around 13 years so how would the Lord feel about me when I returned?
I also hadn't read the Bible for a long time either so would I remember anything? Would I even know the Old from the New Testament?
Well, just as the Lord had opened Balaam's eyes after speaking through the donkey, He had opened my eyes through the words He spoke through my Amazing Grace, leading me to a spirit of remorse and repentance for my many years of unfaithful living. He also started to reform and refine me, getting me back on the right path, the narrow path that led to life and righteousness (Matthew 7:14).
And so, here I am today, more than thirty-three years later, working hard for the Lord daily with the hope that I will be able to be the one through which the Lord speaks to another, to be the one through which he uses to open the eyes of someone who needs it so that might see the wrongs of their ways, repent, and become the person God wants them to be. I know I am eternally grateful for how the Lord took me, a man who was once lost and made him eternally found.
Brothers and sister, my prayer is that we all would be drawn to the words of a favorite contemporary hymn which serves as a plea for God to open our eyes so we will see Jesus,. The One who saw we were heading down the wrong path into danger just as Balaam was, the One who was willing to be beaten and ultimately killed in order to save those who lived with their eyes once blind to the sin that was taking them down the road to destruction in Hell. The song is called "Open Our Eyes Lord" and the words are as follows:
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus,
To reach out and touch Him,
And say that we love Him.
Open our ears, Lord
And help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus.
Yes Father God, today and every day, we want to see Your Son Jesus, our Savior. Open our eyes so we can do this we pray.
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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