Sometimes God gives us what we want so we can learn from the results.
Numbers 22:7-8 Balak's messengers, who were elders of Moab and Midian, set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel. They went to Balaam and delivered Balak's message to him. 8 "Stay here overnight," Balaam said. "In the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say." So the officials from Moab stayed there with Balaam.
In the previous post we saw that God's people are almost home despite
themselves, they have proven that they are not worthy to be God's people
that will inherit the promises made to Abraham, but they will do so anyway.
We saw that
the blessing is the Lord's
and nothing that they can do will change the blessing. God always knew that
they would be undeserving so there isn't any reason to change his mind
hundreds of years later.
As the story of Balaam continues to unfold we will see that it creates a lot
of questions than it doesn't explain. We will see that God and Balaam will
both say and do things that are surprising and confusing, they will both go
against what we expect. If you disregard the other scriptures about Balaam
and just focus on the next couple of chapters of Numbers it will seem like
Balaam is a pretty good guy, doing the right thing most of the time, but
don't forget that is how Satan always presents himself.
God's people are probably unaware that King Balak is so afraid of them that
he is planning to attack them, they are in their camp minding their own
business, unaware that God is working to protect them in supernatural ways
even though they are probably complaining about him while all of this is
going on.
Balaam Has Visitors
Numbers 22:9-12 That night God came to Balaam and asked him, "Who are these men visiting you?" 10 Balaam said to God, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent me this message: 11 'Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come and curse these people for me. Then perhaps I will be able to stand up to them and drive them from the land.'" 12 But God told Balaam, "Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed!"
A delegation sent by King Balak visits Balaam to hire the false
prophet to curse Israel. When Balaam receives the invite to curse God's
people he seems to react the way that he should, you would think that he
would not hesitate to make some quick money but Balaam responds wisely,
stating he will seek God's will first and he would only do whatever God
tells him to do.
God takes the initiative and visits Balaam and opens the
conversation with a question. When God begins a conversation, especially
with a question, there is usually a very good reason to be afraid,
but Balaam seems very comfortable talking to God. It seems like he
has probably done it before, instead of fear, the prophet seems to be
acquainted with the idea of talking to God or possibly with other
spiritual beings.
Balaam appears obedient and spiritually sensitive when he sends them away
because God said no. We are not told that he felt disappointed about
missing out on the large sum of money and fame that could be his. At this
point, all we know is that Israel is a nation blessed by God, and Balaam’s
role is to stay home and not interfere.
Balaam receives visitors again, this time it is another
delegation from the king and also a return visit from God. The king sent
more important people with bigger prizes, what a picture of how Satan works,
he is the best at making his offer better and better to try and wear us
down.
Numbers 22:18-19 But Balaam responded to Balak's messengers, "Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the LORD my God. 19 But stay here one more night, and I will see if the LORD has anything else to say to me."
Balaam never sounded more spiritual than when he referred to God as “the
LORD my God” but don't be fooled. Balaam wants a God he can
manipulate and negotiate with, he knows God and he knows his will but he
is pretending to love God more than money. He is constantly searching for
a loophole that will let him have both God’s approval and Balak’s
money.
Balaam Gets What He Wants
Numbers 22:20-22 That night God came to Balaam and told him, "Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do." 21 So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the LORD to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along,
Imagine the delight Balaam had when God told him to go to King Balak, he
was probably as delighted as we are surprised that God seems to make a
complete turn around from what he said before without any explanation. And
then surprise again, God is angry that he went. What's going on?
What looks like permission was actually God letting Balaam have exactly
what his stubborn, money-loving heart insisted on. Balaam is going to
learn that God's permission is not the same as God's approval. God is
going to graciously give Balaam the opportunity to learn more about the
God that he thinks he already knows.
It is difficult to understand that God’s sovereignty means nothing happens
outside of his ultimate permission, but he permits things that are
contrary to his perfect will that grieves Him. We have the freedom to
choose to accept God's will or go our own way. (Matthew 23:37, Romans
1:24-28)
This not the first time that God allowed something outside of his will, we
will see this concept play out after Israel was settled in the Promised
Land, they will ask to have their heavenly king replaced by an earthly
king, despite God's will.
I always wondered why God chose Saul as their
first king but now I think that God gave them exactly the type of king
that he warned them about so that they would be blessed to learn from the
consequences. (1 Samuel 8:1-22, Numbers 23:21)
Balaam did what we all do, we assume that the path of least resistance,
with wide open doors, is the will of God but Balaam shows us that we
need to be careful about that logic.We fail to see that God's permission is not the same as God's approval
and he often permits things that he doesn't approve of.
Balaam Enters God's Classroom
Numbers 22:22b-23 As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road.
Balaam wasted no time getting on the road without any idea that he was
entering God's classroom where the angel of the Lord stood ready to teach
him, opposing his path with a drawn sword. It is amazing that Balaam is in
this situation without any understanding of what is going on because it
isn't until God allows himself to be seen that Balaam becomes aware of his
presence. (Numbers 22:31-33)
Balaam's knowledge of God continues to show after he sees the angel of the
Lord, he isn't afraid because he sees an angel with a sword, Balaam is
afraid because he believes that the angel of the Lord is actually God. We
know the angel is not an ordinary angel because he speaks in the first
person as God and Balaam responds in fear with a confession and repents.
All of these encounters with God should have drawn Balaam to God but
instead he is dangerously close to God's drawn sword. Ultimately Balaam
chooses the path that leads to the sword, tragically he dies by the sword
because he ignore God's kindness. (Numbers 31:8, Joshua 13:22)
The “way of Balaam” proved to be the way of destruction, Balaam is proof
that intellectual knowledge of God, spiritual experiences, the ability to
speak true words about God, and even miraculous encounters with God does
not guarantee your eternity with God. (2 Peter 2:15, Matthew 7:22–23)
Balaam Reminds Me Of The Prodigal Son
Let's compare the two, both men know the father, they know the fathers
will and they both chose greed and lived to please themselves. God was
merciful to both men and blessed them with a wake up call while they were
in the middle of the consequences of their sin. (Luke 15:11-32)
Both men show us that getting our own way can be the severest
judgment of all.
However, they also offer a stark contrast in how to react to the
consequences of rebellion. God's blessings were wasted on Balaam as he
failed to learn his lesson, leading to an unhappy ending. The Prodigal
Son, in contrast, repented and returned to the Father.
Their stories should make us think twice about our demands. Instead of
demanding that God agree with us, we should ask God to help us agree
with Him. We need His wisdom to discern which "open doors" are truly His
will and which are paths He is merely allowing us to walk against His
perfect plan.
These two men should make me think twice about what I ask for, instead of
demanding that God agree with me I need to ask God to help me to agree
with him. I need to remember that God might let me have my way and he may
let doors be wide open that he may not want me to enter.
I need to pray to discern God's will without asking for my own, I need to
realize that he may have plans to use my will to teach me more about his
will. (Romans 2:4)
