Interrupted Ignorance

“Look up! The White House is right there!”

Few people wake up with the intent to do everything the wrong way.

Sometimes, we need to be interrupted in our ignorance to God’s plan.

READ Numbers 22:22-35

Balaam - A non-jewish prophet hired by the Moabites to speak a curse over Israel.

Up to this point, Balaam has been portrayed as a man of great spiritual stature.

A man who meets God when he wants and his words would have tremendous effect on the nations.

Balak recruited his service.

People believed that a curse went a long way.

Here, his ignorance to God’s plan is shown.

Every Christian is capable of displaying spiritual ignorance.

Even if our intentions are pure. Don’t assume you know all that is going on. Chances are, you don’t know all the information.

One element of God’s grace is His willingness to interrupt our ignorance.

1. Willful Ignorance

God told Balaam to wait until the sons of Moab called to him before traveling with them.

Balaam entertained the secret purpose of acting in opposition to the solemn charge of God.

“Angel of the Lord” - To protect Israel

Only three times used in OT

Sword in hand. Ready to fight.

Narrow road. Count not pass anything without care or caution.

Stone or mud fence. Prevented soil wash off from rain.

People come up with interesting excuses when caught red-handed.

Sometimes, we are tempted to pretend that we are ignorant so we don’t have to accept responsibility.

God know your heart and He can appose your actions when you are against His will.

Don’t use ignorance as an excuse to get away with sin.

2. Spiritual Ignorance

The respected prophet could not understand why his donkey was unwilling to move forward.

In Mesopotamia, strange actions by animals were regarded as omens.

As a “specialist” in this area, he should have known his donkey’s behavior meant that something strange was going on.

Instead, he viciously beat the animal.

“The righteous cares about his animals health, but even the merciful acts of the wicked are cruel.” - Prov. 12:10

The donkey showed more fear to God than it did to Balaam’s stick.

The donkey spoke!

Brought humility to his proud heart.

Sometimes it takes a donkey to bring God’s truth to the situation.

“There is no drama in our youth group.” The staff let me know I was wrong.

One look at God’s angel was enough to change Balaam’s outlook.

God can communicate in any way He wants to.

Numerous ways

We can accuse others of making us look foolish when we are the person to blame.

I can do ignorant all by myself and so can you.

We don’t have all the information or variables.

Social media has only furthered our ignorance.

There is a clear call for repentance here.

Read verse 34

Balaam admitted sin but didn’t fully repent.

Repentance - Voluntary change in the mind of a sinner in which they turn from sin.

Intellectual - Change in view

Emotional - Change in feeling

Voluntary - Change of purpose

Repentance, when embraced fully, produces the ability to see everything from the correct view.

God wants us to see clearly.

Is there an ignorant area of your life God can interrupt and bring repentance?