Year 1, Day 137: Numbers 22

In The World

This story of Balaam should really grip us today (and for the next few days).  First, Balaam is a member of a pagan nation yet knows the God of the Hebrew people.  Second, he was a practitioner of the arts of predicting the future; yet God took something He considers an abomination and used it for His own glory in Balaam.  Third, he listens to God’s Word and faithfully proclaims it to the people yet he will eventually lead the Hebrew people into sin and corruption.  I think here we have a picture of just how dangerous it is to mingle with the world and think we can still truly follow God.  I’m not saying it is impossible – after all God has called us to proclaim His Word to the world.  But it is dangerous to live in the world too much.

I have to admit that when I first read through this passage I was a good bit confused.  At first reading, it appears that Balaam is doing a good thing.  The princes come to him, he invites them in to stay, and he consults the Lord.  This happens twice.  It sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it?  So then why does the anger of the Lord burn against Balaam after the Lord had given him permission to go with the princes?

As I am fond of saying, God is in it for the motivation, not the action.  God already made his desire known to Balaam after the first visit.  So when they came a second time, Balaam should have told them “No, go away, I’ve already answered you.”  Yet, because he invites them in and inquires of the Lord a second time he is essentially testing the Lord.  Balaam already knows God’s mind on this; Balaam is simply showing us here that while he knew God’s mind he also wanted to earn the favor and reward that Balak offered. 

Balaam is acting like that child who asks for something, gets an answer, and then comes back and asks again.  As a parent or teacher or pastor or whatever, doesn’t that behavior annoy?  If it annoys us, why wouldn’t it annoy God?

Here is Balaam’s problem.  While he knows the true God, he is also tempted by the possessions of the world.  In a sense, Balaam is torn between serving God and serving “mammon.”  We know that Jesus teaches us that the heart cannot have two masters; the heart will ultimately love one and despise the other.  By Balaam opening up his heart to the prospect of material gain he is putting his walk with the Lord into potential conflict.

In this sense, God is like the parent who says, “Fine.  I know what you really want to do.  So go.  Follow your heart. But you bear the consequences of your actions.”

So, the Lord allows Balaam to go in order to test him.  The Lord would have preferred Balaam stay put and listen to him, but the Lord is going to reveal what is really in Balaam’s heart to him.  Now we understand why it is that the Lord’s anger burned against Balaam even though the Lord gave Balaam permission to go with the princes.

Absolute Versus Permissive Will

This brings us to an interesting point of thought: God’s absolute and permissive will.  God has a plan for the world.  That is His absolute will.  God knows what is best for each of us.  However, God also permits us to go against His will.  That is His permissive will.  Just because we go against God does not mean that we cannot be used by God.  But when we strike out on our own we are living underneath His permissive will rather than His absolute will.

It is a pretty scary place to live in a place where we know God is permitting us to live even though He would rather us be living in another place of mind, though, or deed.  It is always dangerous to leave God’s absolute will behind and strike out into God’s permissive will.  It’s scary because God’s absolute will is what He really wants to happen.  When we are living in God’s permissive will, by default we’re not where God would prefer us to be.

Balaam’s Donkey

To this effect, God uses Balaam’s donkey.  As a beast of burden, Balaam’s donkey pretty much had to do whatever Balaam told it to do.  However, when Balaam’s donkey refuses to go forward against the messenger of the Lord, we see the difference between God and man.  God permits us to strike out and do our own thing, but He is constantly trying to bring us back into the fold even though He didn’t get His way.  Yet, when mankind doesn’t get its way we get angry and strike out in our anger.  While God calls to Balaam to bring Balaam to Him, Balaam beats his donkey when he doesn’t get his way.

Of course, this also shows us the limited scope of sight to which mankind has access.  We get so focused on the desires of our mind that we lose perspective on what is really going on around us.  Balaam gets so focused on the wealth and reputation that is promised to him that he loses sight of God’s absolute will.  He is unable to see that the Lord is directly opposed to his course of action, although his donkey is not blind to that fact!   So we learn to be careful about things in this world that blind us to God’s will.

Finally we come to Balaam’s donkey and its ability to speak.  Without sounding trite, this teaches us to listen carefully to the advice given to us regardless of the source.  Given the choice between listening to a talking donkey or a man offering us great riches, most of us will pick the wealthy man.  But yet in this story, where was God – within the donkey or within Balak?

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