What happens when Satan has you right where he wants you? Balak thought Balaam would curse the Wilderness Wanderers. This devotion looks at Balak’s assumption that sin had won.
Nuggets
- When we resist God, He will open our eyes to see His displeasure.
- Balaam’s focus was on this earth, not God.
- Once we start down the path of sin, we have to face the consequences, even if we have repented.
- Balak thought he had Balaam right where he wanted him.
- Sometimes, we have to set aside our opinions and desires and just follow God.
To read devotions in the title series, click the appropriate button below.
When Sin Thinks It’s Won
Balaam was on his way to Balak. He was going to get paid to curse the Wilderness Wanderers. God sent an angel to stand in the gap so Balaam couldn’t go anywhere. Look what happened next.
The Seer’s Eyes Were Opened
“Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him. ‘Why did you beat your donkey those three times?’ the angel of the Lord demanded. ‘Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.’” (Num. 22: 31-33 NLT)
Up to now, we may have been able to tell ourselves that Balaam was really attempting to do God’s will. Verse 32 tells us in no uncertain terms that Balaam was stubbornly resisting God’s directions.
Did you get a chuckle at the angel was so fed up with Balaam, that he was going to do physical harm — but the donkey was going to be saved? Yep, God is going to take care of His creation who obeys Him.
When we resist God, He will open our eyes to see His displeasure. Up to this point, Balaam had two conversations with God, carried on a conversation with a donkey, and was now carrying on a conversation with an angel. Did it do the trick?
Repentance
"Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.’ But the angel of the Lord told Balaam, ‘Go with these men, but say only what I tell you to say.’ So Balaam went on with Balak’s officials" (Num. 22: 34-35 NLT)
It took all of those conversations to get Balaam to see he had sinned. He didn’t realize the angel was there.
Now, it does say that the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes. But part of the problem was they lost focus. Balaam’s focus was on this earth, not God.
Balaam immediately said that he would return home, if that is what God wanted.
What? Wait! The angel told Balaam to go on with his plans???? All of this, and Balaam still got to head toward the money???????
Why? Balaam doesn’t deserve to go through with the plan!
Sometimes when we sin, we can’t have a do-over. Once we start down the path of sin, we have to face the consequences, even if we have repented.
But did Balaam really see it as sin? Maybe he wasn’t really sorry for his sin. Maybe he was sorry for getting caught mistreating his donkey. (How would you feel if the donkey got praised and would have been saved and you didn’t and wouldn’t?) Maybe Balaam was sorry he got caught wanting the money.
When Sin Thinks It’s Won
“When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he went out to meet him at a Moabite town on the Arnon River at the farthest border of his land. ‘Didn’t I send you an urgent invitation? Why didn’t you come right away?’ Balak asked Balaam. ‘Didn’t you believe me when I said I would reward you richly?’ Balaam replied, ‘Look, now I have come, but I have no power to say whatever I want. I will speak only the message that God puts in my mouth’” (Num. 22: 36-38 NLT)
We can see Balak’s arrogance and assumed superiority in verse 36. “… he went out to meet him at a Moabite town on the Arnon River at the farthest border of his land” (Num. 22: 36 NLT). Balak thought he had Balaam right where he wanted him.
So, Balaam got to where he was going. And Balak immediately started biting on him. “You took too long. You were supposed to be under my power and control.”
Balaam told Balak to hold his horses. It was interesting that he didn’t give a reason for being “late.” Of course, would you really want to admit to having a conversation with a donkey?
What Balaam told Balak was not necessarily what he wanted to hear. Just because Balaam was there didn’t mean everything was going to turn out the way Balak envisioned.
Did you see that? Even though Balaam may have been more than happy to curse Israel, he had to follow God’s lead. Sometimes, we have to set aside our opinions and desires and just follow God.
Sin thought it had Balaam where he would curse the Wilderness Wanderers for the money. But did it win?
Making the Connections
Some people seem to think that, if something is in the Bible, then it is okay. God let Balaam go with Balak to get the money, so it isn’t a sin. It is okay to curse God’s people.
- Just because it is in the Bible doesn’t make it okay. There are a lot of don’ts in there. God lists what He considers sin.
- We are not to judge. God is. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Mt. 7: 1 NIV).
Satan judged. Because Balaam was there, Satan thought God’s people would be cursed. Yes, Balaam sinned. Yes, God allowed it.
That does not give us license to sin. We still have to be obedient to God and His laws and commandments.
How Do We Apply This?
In the last two devotions in this series, we haven’t applied what we have been talking about. What should we do?
- Take responsibility for our actions.
- When, as an ambassador for God, we get little respect, we are supposed to keep on serving God in the way He calls.
- We’ve got to do whatever God asks of us.
- When we start going down the wrong path, we can ask God to come and stand in the gap.
- We have to genuinely repent and suffer any associated consequences.
- Our motives and desires have to be God focused.
So, let’s read some of the nuggets again.
- Balaam was a typical human, with a touch piety along with a touch apostasy.
- God always allows us free will to choose between Him and Satan.
- Still, God will use any and every means to turn us off our sinful path.
- God allows the trial to happen so we can grow from the experience.
- The angel stood in the gap between Balaam and sin.
- When we resist God, He will open our eyes to see His displeasure.
- Balaam’s focus was on this earth, not God.
- Once we start down the path of sin, we have to face the consequences, even if we have repented.
- Sometimes, we have to set aside our opinions and desires and just follow God.
We need to keep our focus on God so that we don’t slide off the correct path.
Father. You are so loving and giving toward us. Too many times, we take our eyes off You and put them on the desires of this world. Lord, put an angel in our path. Speak to us through donkeys. Do whatever You need to get our attention. May we quickly and genuinely repent and turn back to You.
What do you think?
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