Balaam and Balak thought they could get God to change His mind and curse the Wilderness Wanderers. But God cannot change His mind. This devotion shows us that we can trust His promises because He will not change.
Nuggets
- On the surface, the sacrifices looked legitimate, but Balaam and Balak weren’t submitting in any way, shape, or form!
- The discussions with the donkey and the angel did not convince Balaam to repent.
- God has one purpose — to further His kingdom – which He does that by choosing to show us grace and mercy.
- The Wilderness Wanderers were still wandering, but God’s promises were going to come to fruition.
To read devotions in the A Man and His Donkey series, click the appropriate button below.
Blessings, Not Curses
For the past three devotions, we have been discussing Balaam and Balak’s efforts to curse the Wilderness Wanderers. Today is the day they chose for that to happen. Let’s see if they got their wish.
Let's Put It into Context
“The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see some of the people of Israel spread out below him” (Num. 22: 41 NLT)
We talked in the last devotion how Balak thought he had Balaam right where he wanted him. Because of this, he didn’t waste any time the next morning after Balaam got there. He got Balaam up on a hill so he could see the Wilderness Wanderers.
The Sacrifices
“Then Balaam said to King Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice” (Num. 23: 1 NLT)
On the surface, the sacrifices looked legitimate. It was significant that they sacrificed seven bulls and rams on seven altars. Seven was a perfect number. Bulls and rams were the animals to be sacrificed for burnt offerings.
Their problem was that they thought, “We sacrificed; You have to do what we say.” Well, don’t we do this with prayers sometimes? “We prayed to You; You have to give us what we prayed for, even if it the opposite of Your Will.”
The Israelites were supposed to sacrifice to God as worship. “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God” (Ps. 51: 17 CSB). Sacrifices were to represent submission to God.
Ooo, baby. Balaam and Balak weren’t submitting in any way, shape, or form! They were not asking what was in God’s Will (Num. 22: 12).
There was another reason why God would not accept the sacrifice. Balaam was offering the sacrifice partly in faith, partly in divination. It doesn’t say anything in Chapter 23. However in Chapter 24, it says, “By now Balaam realized that the Lord was determined to bless Israel, so he did not resort to divination as before” in Numbers 24: 1 (NLT).
The Messages
God gave Balaam three messages to give Balak.
The First Message
“Balak summoned me to come from Aram; the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me! Come and announce Israel’s doom.’ But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom the Lord has not condemned? I see them from the cliff tops; I watch them from the hills. I see a people who live by themselves, set apart from other nations. Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs’” (Num. 23: 7-10 NLT)
The first message was a recap of then-current events. Here was what Balak wanted. But there was what God wanted.
It all boiled down to verse 8. God said, “I know what you want to do, but I won’t allow it. Israel is safe.” Verses 9 and 10 clarified for Balak God’s protection of the Wilderness Wanderers.
Balaam “saw” the Wilderness Wanderers living daily lives. He saw their contentment. He saw the victory that God would give them.
I wonder what Balaam felt. He was supposed to be this great soothsayer. Remember, back in Who Is Balaam?, we said that “…the art of divination was the highest point to which the heathen world had been able to attain in their pursuit of the unseen ….” This was not going to be good for Balaam’s reputation.
When you think about how many there were went Israel went to Egypt, you realize just how blessed they were. The 70 turned into 2.4 million (Got Answers).
Genesis 28: 14 says, “Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring” (CSB). God had kept that promise. How could Balaam and Balak doubt He would keep His promise to protect them?
In verse 10 when it say, “… Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people?” (Num. 23: 10 CSB). Henry says that is referring to how Israel set up camp. They formed a cross around the tabernacle, with four tribes on each side.
The “… let me die …” part may be a tad bit confusing. I really doubt that this was part of God’s message. It is probably an add-on by Balaam.
I don’t think Balaam was asking for his death to occur anytime soon. I think he was just asking that it be a righteous death (Spurgeon). He wanted a part of all the good stuff that he saw.
The problem is, the discussion with the donkey and the angel did not convince Balaam to repent. Oh, he acknowledged he had sinned.
But repentance is expressing sorrow for things we’ve done wrong. It is not just feeling sorry for doing those things. It is making the commitment to changing ourselves so that we no longer do the wrong things.
Balaam did not turn away from his sin. He continued to practice divination, which God said was a no no (Lev. 19: 26 CSB).
If we want to be blessed, we have to live righteously. We have to be set apart and holy in order to be blessed.
Balaam didn’t practice self-discipline to master his selfishness and covetousness. It doesn’t look like he was blessed. If he wasn’t, he won’t get to be a sheep on the right.
The Second Message
“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it! No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob; no trouble is in store for Israel. For the Lord their God is with them; he has been proclaimed their king. God brought them out of Egypt; for them he is as strong as a wild ox. No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel. For now it will be said of Jacob, ‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’ These people rise up like a lioness, like a majestic lion rousing itself. They refuse to rest until they have feasted on prey, drinking the blood of the slaughtered!” (Num. 23: 19-24 NLT)
Balak was furious. He wanted to try again to get God to change His mind.
Problem was, God isn’t human like us. He doesn’t change His mind. If He could, He wouldn’t be divine (Melvill).
Remember back in Does God Tempt Us?, we talked about God can’t tempt us because God isn’t evil? “No one undergoing a trial should say, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone” (Jas. 1: 13 CSB). He won’t mislead — unknowingly or purposefully — anyone.
God has one purpose — to further His kingdom. He does that by choosing to show us grace and mercy. He is not going to change His purpose.
Has God ever broken a promise? Has He failed to act?
No.
God’s not answering our prayers the way we demand is not Him failing to act. God answers prayers that are in His Will.
God reiterated in this second message that He was going to bless Israel (Num. 23: 20). There was no way Balak and Balaam were going to stop it.
Israel was going to be unstoppable.
Not only that, “These people rise up like a lioness, like a majestic lion rousing itself. They refuse to rest until they have feasted on prey, drinking the blood of the slaughtered!” (Num. 23: 24 NLT).
Well, the lion is the king of the jungle, but the lioness are pretty ferocious themselves. “They refuse to rest until they have feasted on prey, drinking the blood of the slaughtered!” (Num. 23: 24 NLT). Israel would be focused on the task at hand — defeating evil and spiritual wickedness.
What all of this is saying is that God is present with His people. “Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God” (Ex. 29: 45 NLT). His plan for Israel would be accomplished.
The Third Message
“This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly, the message of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open: How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob; how lovely are your homes, O Israel! They spread before me like palm groves, like gardens by the riverside. They are like tall trees planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow from their buckets; their offspring have all they need. Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted. God brought them out of Egypt; for them he is as strong as a wild ox. He devours all the nations that oppose him, breaking their bones in pieces, shooting them with arrows. Like a lion, Israel crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to arouse her? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel, and cursed is everyone who curses you.” (Num. 24: 3-9 NLT)
Balak didn’t need a soothsayer to know he would need defeat if he openly battled the Wilderness Wanderers. Balaam knew that his divination wasn’t getting him anywhere. When he didn’t use it, he is described as “… the man whose eyes see clearly” (Num. 24: 3 NLT)
Vaughan listed all the things that Balaam had learned up to that point. “He has learned the helplessness of man striving with his Maker. He has learned the futility of approaching the God of truth with a lie in the right hand. He has learned that to ‘set the face toward the wilderness’ is the one hope and wisdom of inquiring man; to look away from enchantments; to look away from courts and crowds, from pleasures and businesses; to look away from types and forms, and to fix the earnest gaze upon that solitude of earth and heaven which is the presence of the soul in the presence of God.”
What struck me about these verses is, I read them like they were past tense. “They spread …” (Num. 24: 6 NLT). “Water [flowed] from their buckets …” (Num. 24: 7 NLT).
The Wilderness Wanderers were still wandering, but God’s promises were going to come to fruition. Nothing Balaam or Balak could do or say was giving to change that.
It was a done deal.
The deal also was, “… Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel, and cursed is everyone who curses you.” (Num. 24: 9 NLT). If the surrounding nations wanted to prosper, they needed to befriend Israel, not war against her.
Making the Connections
- The enemies of God’s people may be able to hurt them, but they cannot curse them.
- Just as the Wilderness Wanderers were to be set apart from the world, so, too, are we.
- We can depend on God to keep His promises.
- Evil will not triumph over good in the end.
How Do We Apply This?
These three messages should show us that God deserves our worship because He keeps His promises. But they also show that God’s Will will be done. We have to make Him the Sovereign God of our lives.
Father. Thank You that You do not change. Your promises are secure. Help us to give You the praise You deserve. Amen.
What do you think?
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