Friday, June 04, 2010

We All Need a Donkey to Talk to Us Sometimes


As we continue our LIAR study through the book of 2 Peter this Sunday we will see that Peter will single out one false prophet from the Old Testament in particular. His name is Balaam and in 2 Peter 2:15 we learn that this false teacher loved the wages of unrighteousness more than he loved living for God. Remember that description. Let me give you a quick overview of the story of Balaam which you can read in its entirety in Numbers 22-24.

The name Balaam means to “swallow hard” or “gulp down.” Perhaps you eat like that – simply devouring your food. That was the kind of reputation Balaam had as a prophet. Whoever he cursed was soon after devoured. So one day Balak, king of Moab sends to hire Balaam to curse the children of Israel. Balak is in fear of them, their numbers and of the news of the way they had utterly destroyed the mighty Amorite nations. When Balak’s messengers get to Balaam with the job offer, Balaam seeks the counsel of God who tells him not to go back to Balak because he cannot curse this group of people that God had blessed (see Genesis 12:1-3).

Balak will not be told “no” so he again makes an even more lucrative offer to the Prophet. Balaam knows that God has already spoken and the that he cannot curse Israel whom God has blessed. But he goes back to God anyway hoping God will somehow change his mind. Why? Because Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness more than he loved living for God. So God says, “Go ahead” but he is angry with Balaam for his lack of commitment to Him.
Balaam gets on his donkey and starts the journey to King Balak. God puts an angel in the road with a drawn sword, no doubt to kill Balaam for his unrighteousness. Balaam does not see the angel but God opens the eyes of the donkey so he does. The donkey goes off the road to avoid the angel and Balaam beats the donkey. Awhile later the angel is standing in the middle of the road with a stone wall on either side. To avoid the angel the donkey goes to the side, crushing Balaam’s foot against the stone wall. So again Balaam beats the donkey. Then the donkey comes to a narrow spot in the road where the angel is standing with no room to go around him. So the donkey sits down and refuses to move forward and again Balaam beats the donkey.

Now the story really gets good. God now opens the mouth of the donkey who turns and says to Balaam (perhaps in the voice of Eddie Murphy), “What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?” Now if you think that is the most amazing part of the story, that the donkey talked to Balaam, you are wrong. The most amazing part is that Balaam talked back. Not me! I would have been out of there! But Balaam says, “You have made a fool out of me.” Wait a second Balaam. You’re the one talking to a donkey. Who made who the fool? Next, God opens the eyes of Balaam and he also sees the angel with the drawn sword and realizes that, had it not been for the donkey, his loving the wages of righteousness more than living for God would have been very detrimental to his well-being.

The truth is that all of us have pockets of “Balaam-like” strongholds in our lives. We all have a sin that we many times love more than we love living for God. And these strongholds can be horribly detrimental to us. Maybe we all could stand to have a donkey speak to us now and then.

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