7.10.25 ~ My Response

Good morning!

Balaam's behavior makes it hard to remember that he is a seer and a prophet. He is supposed to see what is going on in the spiritual realm and then speak with the voice of God to what he sees.  But, and at this stage of his journey, he is too busy being angry, beating his poor, faithful donkey. Consequently, he is unable to see that all the donkey is doing in response to the presence of the Angel of the Lord.

The Angel, however, is just about to make his presence known.  And the Voice of the Most High, like many waters, is about to be heard (Eze. 43:2; Psa. 29:3).

If Balaam will not see Him or speak His Words, the Lord will find another to speak His mind.  In this case the ‘other witness’ is going to turn out to be Balaam's burden bearer; upon whom he was taking out his rage.  In the midst of the thrashing, Yahweh gave the donkey the power of speech. The donkey opened its mouth and the voice which came out asked Balaam:

'What have I done to you that you beat me these three times?' (Numbers 22:28)

And there you have it, when the miraculous occurs and Yahweh supernaturally opens the mouth of the donkey causing intelligible words to pour forth, Balaam chooses not to acknowledge the miracle; Instead he curses the donkey:

“How dare you make a fool out of me! If I had a sword in my hand right now, I would kill you!” (Numbers 22:29)

Balaam chooses to ignore the sign and wonder, blame the donkey - and threaten to slay him with a sword! Ugh!

So there it is.  The man who puts on a fancy suit and prophesies with the best of them - who everyone thinks lives by the 'Voice' (not the TV show), it is revealed, when the chips are down, actually lives by the sword. (Matt. 26:52; Am. 9:1-10; Eze. 32 & 33; etc.,)   “If I had a sword in my hand right now  . . .” he says.

Now we understand perfectly what side Balaam is on. Thank goodness it is the angel of the Lord who had the sword instead!

Did you notice how the donkey responded to Balaam? Did you notice her obedience to God by responding with asking good questions to an angry master? Notice that all this donkey does with the gift of speech is to ask questions (Num. 22:28,30). She does not threaten Balaam. She does not respond in anger. She makes no accusations. She offers no opinion or counsel.  She does not preach or pontificate or prophesy.

As I prepare to head to the airport, I am asking myself, along with the other enquiring minds, "How do I respond when I'm being beaten upon by ...?" Enquiring minds want to know :-)

Happy 40th day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine!

Shalom,
Alan

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