Monday 11-2-09

I was reading this afternoon in Numbers 22 where I ran into the story of Balaam and him talking to a donkey. While this did almost make me laugh it also made me do some heart digging. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Numbers 22:32-34

32. And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

33. And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

34. And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.

Alright to help set the scene: Balaam has been called upon by an enemy of Israel to curse them. Balaam is in route to this evil man, riding on his donkey, his donkey sees a angel of the Lord blocking the path and ends up scraping Balaam's foot against the wall. Balaam had not seen the angel of the Lord, and started beating his donkey. God opens the donkey's mouth and speaks through him to show Balaam the error of his ways. Then Balaam finally sees the angel of the Lord and starts this conversation.

Now we might be going wow how stupid does a guy have to be to sit there and talk to an animal? Shouldn't he have realized something was up with the first word the donkey spoke? Here's what it got down to for me, Balaam was so blind and set in what the angel called a perverse way that couldn't see a clear sign like a donkey talking or and angel of the Lord blocking his path.

Yes it struck me oddly that a man was talking to a donkey and the donkey was talking to him but what struck me so far beyond that was this. Am I so set in any perverse way that I could not see God's direction in my life? Also this thought plagued my mind: What will it take for God to get my attention? am I sensitive to his leading or am so blind to his calling that I couldn't see it if an angel were standing in my path?

There is so much more that this text contains that time keeps me from covering at this moment but hopefully we'll get into it a a later time.

Please pray for a young man named Andy he got saved recently and had been coming to church every service. In the past couple weeks he stopped coming to every service and wasn't there Sunday morning. My heart has been heavy for him the past week or so, please pray that God would show him the necessity of being in the fellowship of other believers, and being under Godly preaching. Ask the Lord to do a work in his heart, and that he would keep him from the evil one.

God Bless,