Numbers – Chapter 22

But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. Numbers 22:22 – If you read the chapter, likely you noticed what appeared to be God getting angry with someone doing what He told them to do…let’s explain. First Balaam, the prophet in the story, was a non-Israelite, pagan prophet who did not follow the Lord. Scripture tells us in Jude 11 and 2 Peter 2:15-16 that Balaam only had a heart for the money he’d receive from following through with cursing Israel like his employers wanted. The fact that God even spoke with Balaam like He did is the greatest shock in the story, even more than the donkey talking! The Lord seems to be talking to this false prophet like He would with Moses! God eventually told Balaam to go with the employers, yet as we see in our verse God was angry Balaam went. God wasn’t angry because Balaam obeyed God, God knew the intention of Balaam’s heart. Balaam longed to curse Israel and get the money for his dark work, this is what the Lord saw and was angry with. There was someone desiring to curse His people and He wasn’t going to let that happen. While certainly a confusing passage and one that needs a deeper than a superficial read through to understand, it does remind us how amazing our God is at protecting us. For likely when all this was happening, Moses and the Israelites had no clue this was going on. We had an enemy nation trying to hire false prophets to curse Israel, and Israel knew nothing about it. Yet God did, and God took care of His own. Know in your story there are many things God has taken care of for you that you’ll never know of this side of Heaven. He is watching out for you always. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3372

And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.” Numbers 22:30 – First off, yes, it does say the donkey spoke. If you haven’t checked out this story before , read today’s chapter in full! It’s worth it! What can we learn from this verse though? So the donkey speaks and asks Balaam if ever in the past did it behave badly like this without cause. It asked Balaam to look back at all that experiences he had had with it to see if it had ever given off the this impression it was a careless, untrained donkey that needed striking to stay in order. The answer was no, it had never behaved that way before and Balaam should have taken that into consideration before immediately thinking the donkey was messing up. So when life gets uncomfortable and we find ourselves in struggles, do we immediately blame God and assume He’s mad or forgetful in our situation? Yet has He ever shown Himself in our past to be forgetful or one to let His anger rage on us? Maybe then there is something else going on here that we aren’t seeing, just like it was with the angel and the donkey. Take time then when life is suddenly filled with unexpected things to try and see what God is doing before assuming He’s just trying to hurt you. There’s always more going on than we see and God may use unexpected things to open our eyes to it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1438

Numbers 22 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” Numbers 22:20 – This is an odd chapter for sure, and beyond simply because there is a talking donkey within it. We have curses being asked for and a seemingly confusing set of directions given by God with punishments being given for no reason. What must be focused on in a passage like this is God’s words here in verse 20. “Only do what I tell you.” This was the source of Balaam’s troubles, for he didn’t do only what the Lord said to do. Yes he went when God said go, but he refused to stop when the Lord was clearly getting his attention with the angel to stop. Things that should have been red flags for someone who had conversations with the Lord before were taking place, but he kept pushing through. Many commentators take this as evidence that Balaam’s heart was for selfish gain and honor through doing what King Balak wanted, and that heart was one unpleasing to the Lord. What can we gather for us today from this unique story? The command given to Balaam is our command as well, only do what God tells us to do. Move, but when God begins to say stop, stop. Speak, but when God says be still, be still. While it may seem doable to keep going, that’s not what God has called you to do. Be willing to look for the red flags God will use to grab your attention, even if they are unusual red flags. We should seek to have a heart that only desires God’s path for our story, even if another path will provide more earthly gain. For the path of following the Lord may not earn you the same wealth and honor in this world, but following the Lord will result in people hearing the good news of Jesus and possibly placing their life in Jesus’ hands. Choose which is most important to you and follow that path. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2303