July 17, 2015

“God’s anger was kindled because he (Balaam) was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it 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, it 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 it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” But the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating 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 road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down… Numbers 22:22-31

“Do we see the danger? Or do we not notice how increasingly our own will, our own passion, our own stubbornness sneaks into our confession? Do we not notice how our pious self-confidence puts itself in the place of faith? How our human goals shove aside Christian hope?” Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)”For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 239)

We do not always see the danger of allowing our own will, desires, and plans to supersede the will, desires and plans that G*d has for us. Balaam was blind to the presence of G*d, and thus his own will took over. It took the unexpected surprise of the donkey talking to open his eyes to seeing the Angel of the Lord. This reminds us that G*d will come to us in expected ways, and often in unexpected and even extraordinary ways — all in an attempt to get our attention. But in this distracted world in which we live, it may take something extraordinary to get us to look up — look up from our phones, our tablets, our computers, and look up to G*d.

Be open today to how G*d might be interceding in your life. I doubt you will encounter a talking donkey — but don’t put anything outside of the realm and the desire of G*d to get your attention.

Pastor Dave