What Are You Looking At?

Numbers 22:15–35 ESV

Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’ ” But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” 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.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 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. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then 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 said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 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.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down 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 oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

The prophet of God, who heard God speak all the time, finds himself the target of a heavenly hitman. And the hero of the story, the one who rescues the prophet is a donkey!

When I read this story, I find myself asking two questions.

Why didn’t this prophet see the angel?

Why did God send the angel to begin with?

Ultimately, I think both questions have the same answer.

And I think it’s something that we really need to think about if we are serious about our relationship with God.

Knowing vs. Understanding

Starting with the second question, I think that the reason God was angry with Balaam is that, while he knew how to talk to God, he didn’t really take time to understand God’s heart.

Balaam was all about instruction.

God tells him what to do, and he does it.

Or he tells others what God wants them to do.

But with this ability to hear God’s voice, he didn’t try to go any deeper.

If he really knew who God was and what God wanted, he would have never entertained the visits from Balak’s emissaries.

Balak was interested in one thing: the destruction of the Israelites.

When Balak’s latest group of princes came, Balak knew what they wanted, but he still asked God if he should go with them.

God’s response, I believe, was sarcastic.

If they invited you to go, then by all means go.

But only do what I tell you to do.

And clueless Balak takes the opportunity to travel with this prestigious crew.

As a servant of God, Balaam should have known that the Israelites were God’s chosen people.

God would never allow his people to be cursed.

Judged maybe, but not cursed.

The fact that he went at all says that he was blind to the will and heart of God.

He was more interested in hanging out with the popular kids than doing his job.

He was looking at an opportunity to advance his position in the eyes of King Balak.

And this brings us to the first question.

Why didn’t Balaam see that angel right away?

It seems that Balaam had settled for being a messenger of God only, when he was meant to be a worshipper of God.

God spoke to Balaam, so obviously God wanted to reach out.

But Balaam was only interested in doing just enough to get his job done.

He didn’t know how to, or maybe he wasn’t interested in, going deeper in his relationship with God.

If he had gone deeper, he would have had the spiritual eyes to see what was going on.

By the same token, if he had gone deeper in his relationship with God, he would not have been in this situation!

He would have known better than to go with those princes to begin with!

And then there is the donkey.

As Balaam was traveling with these princes, hoping to get permission to curse the Israelites and get a huge reward from Balak, his donkey sees an angel that was put in the path to kill Balaam.

Seeing the angel, this donkey tries to save her beloved master.

The first time, she changes course into a field.

The second time, she pushes up on the side of a wall to keep out of the angel’s reach.

Finally, when there is nowhere else to go, she just sits down so that they don’t reach where the angel is.

And Balaam’s response is to be angry with the donkey.

Balaam beats the donkey with his staff. He thinks she is a bad animal that should be put to death.

When God allows the donkey to speak to Balaam, she asks him, “In all the years that I have served you, have I EVER acted up or tried to hurt you?

And Balaam has to admit that the donkey has always been a good animal and has served him well.

Here we are again with Balaam’s problem.

Even though he didn’t see the angel, he should have known his donkey well enough to wonder why she was acting so strangely.

But he was only concerned with himself and how he looked to those princes he was traveling with.

He was afraid of looking like a fool who can’t control his donkey.

He saw the action of the donkey, and assumed the motive, even though that motive was totally out of character for her.

In Mark 12, Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment.

Mark 12:29–31 ESV

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Notice that is doesn’t tell us to serve the Lord with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength.

Balaam thought he was good at serving God, but he cared more about impressing those dignitaries.

After the angel released Balaam to go with the princes, he warned him to only do what God tells him to do.

Balaam actually tried to curse the Israelites, but God only allowed him to bless them.

It takes a couple of tries for Balaam to realize that God has no intention of cursing the Israelites.

How self absorbed must he have been to not catch on til now God’s love for the Israelites!

God doesn’t have a problem with you loving yourself.

It’s appropriate for you to care about your life.

It’s what motivates you to find purpose and meaning.

It’s how you find the joys in life.

God just wants you to love him more.

And he wants you to love others as much as you love yourself.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Using this as a description, Balaam doesn’t seem like someone who had a lot of love for anyone but himself.

What about us?

Are we so focused on our own issues that we can’t see what God is wanting to accomplish in our lives?

When situations occur, do we know God so little that we would dare accuse him of not having our best interests at heart?

Are we more interested in fulfilling some religious duty as “service” rather than really getting close to God and letting him reveal his heart to us?

When we see others doing certain things, do we judge the action without considering the character of the person and their motivation?

Are we quick to judge others based before we really get to know them?

This is a tricky thing.

Sometimes our perception of a person is filtered by their actions.

We see them doing something that we don’t agree with, or we hear about something they supposedly did, and now they have a bad reputation.

The thing is, we may have only seen only a fraction of what was happening, and gotten the wrong idea.

Sometimes our perception of a person filters our perception of their actions.

How many of you have ever used the phrase, “No matter what I do, it’s always wrong for so-and-so”?

We can be that way.

We make up our mind about a person’s character, and it influences how we see their actions.

We like someone, so we make excuses for their bad behavior.

We dislike someone, so we find fault with everything they do.

But we are that way because we don’t take the time to really get to know those people and truly love them.

When you truly love someone, you believe the best for them, but you don’t sugarcoat things.

You have to be willing to look past the surface of how things appear to see what is really going on.

Today, what is your situation?

Is your relationship with God all about doing the right things?

Putting your time in at church?

Trying to be charitable?

Being a good, religious person?

Or is it about really getting to know God in the deepest way possible.

So that you understand how he thinks and what he feels.

How well do you really know the people around you?

In your life.

In your neighborhood.

At work.

You see what they are doing, but do your know WHY they are doing these things?

Are we quick to judge by surface appearances rather than looking deeper?

Are you so caught up in what you want to happen that you can’t see what God is trying to do in your situation?

Maybe there is some annoying person in your life that you think is just a nuisance and hindrance, but they are actually protecting you from something you are not seeing.

Today, we need to ask God to open our eyes.

To see him more clearly and know his will better.

To see others more clearly without false prejudice either for or against them.

To see ourselves more clearly, especially in areas where we need God to change us.