FBC Morning Light – March 11, 2023

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. Our Bible reading today is in Numbers chapters 21 and 22, and we're going to be focusing on the latter part of chapter 22, and it's a very famous story, the story of the talking donkey.

Balaam, Balak, and the Talking Donkey

And it's about Balaam, who is a prophet who has been hired by Balak, an enemy of God's people, and it says in verse 22 of chapter 22, then God's anger was aroused because he went. Now, that he there is Balaam, and it's a bit confusing if you don't look at the context because right before this, Balaam was given permission to go, and we need to remember that first of all, God sees more than what we see, and he understands more than what we understand, and through the reading of the context here, Balaam's heart was not in the right place where he was going to apparently curse the Israelites, and that was not going to be what God wanted to have happen.

And so, the Lord, or God's anger was aroused, and it says the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him in verse 22, and so the donkey doesn't go where he wants him to go, and so he hits his donkey, and this happens three separate times, one time crushing his foot, another time he just lays down.

Each time, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and so Balaam, down in verse 27 says, and when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she laid down under Balaam, so Balaam's anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

Then, in verse 28, the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, what have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Balaam, of course, thinks he has the perfect answer to this, and he says, because you have abused me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you.

So, Balaam thinks he knows what's really going on here, and he clearly doesn't, right? This happens to us all the time, happens to me a lot, I have a student in class who's just having a bad day, things happen, and maybe I'm not as open to their story of what's really going on with them, and so I need correction in this matter often, all right?

So, and Balaam says in verse 29, said to the donkey, because you have abused me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you. So the donkey said to Balaam, am I not your donkey on which you have ridden ever since I became yours to this day?

Was I ever disposed to do this to you? In other words, have I ever disobeyed your command before? And Balaam says, no. Well, clearly, Balaam, there's something else going on here, right? Balaam hasn't seen the angel of the Lord yet, and so in verse 31, it says, then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and Balaam fell on his, or bowed his head and fell on his face.

And the angel of the Lord said to him, why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times.

If she had not turned aside from me, surely I would also have killed you by now and let her live. So the donkey here clearly is displaying more sense than Balaam. The donkey was allowed to see the angel of the Lord, where Balaam, that was hid from his eyes, and this is oftentimes how God works.

Learning to Listen When God Gets Our Attention

I don't know if you've ever had a situation where the Lord was trying to get your attention subtly, and then it took a little bit more, and then a little bit more. I remember in my first few months of Bible school, way back in the day, I was storing a toaster for some reason, and I had stored it in the wrong place.

I had stored it where the married storage was supposed to be, and they gave me a note saying, please move your toaster to where it's supposed to go. And then I took that note and forgot about it. And so the next week I got another note, and that note was, you now have three hours of work detail, extra work detail, because you didn't move your toaster.

Now go move your toaster. And I went and moved my toaster, but it took a little bit extra to get my attention to just do what should have been done in the first place of me just being immature at the time.

And there's many examples like this where the Lord works or is trying to get our attention and trying to get our attention. And so here it is with Balaam. He's trying to get his attention. Why would this donkey just turn off to the side?

Why would the donkey do that? It's never done that before. Why would the donkey stop and smash my foot against a wall? Why would the donkey lay down? And finally, finally the Lord has to reveal to Balaam what the situation really is.

Obedience to the Lord in Small Things and Big Things

And then the story goes on in the next chapter that Balaam is allowed to go, but is to only speak what the Lord commands him to speak. So in this, let's take the lesson today to be listening and attentive to what the Lord is trying to teach us in small things, big things, and everything in between.

Let's take a moment and pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the application of your word to our lives. Let us not be like Balaam who was slow to listen and to observe what was going around, but let us listen to you through your word and through the circumstances of our lives to bring glory to you in all that we say and do.

It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.