KEY SCRIPTURE: Numbers 22:21-38 21
And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass (quickly), and went with the princes of Moab. 22 And God's anger was kindled because he went (so eagerly): and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
RELEVANCE
How many stupid things have you done, knowing they were stupid beforehand but still proceeding?
Taking a chance on the wrong things seems inherent in human beings, even when our gut feeling—our Balaam's Ass— says not to do it. Often, we venture into the territory of fools when we shouldn't and pay a price. We disregard warnings and continue on, not considering the dangers that lurk ahead. We think we'll make it to the other end unscathed, whatever that means at the time.
Balaam, a type of prophet, needed his Ass to wake him up to the perils in front of him, and our internal Ass needs to be just as aware. The Book of Proverbs clearly states wisdom cries to us in the streets. This means that in all the streets we go down to find stupidity, trouble or disobedience, the voice of Wisdom is on the footpath, shouting to us not to do it—to STOP! We know in our spirit Wisdom is correct, and yet we continue on to wrongdoing.
Like Balaam's Ass, Wisdom knows what is up ahead. The wise man stops there, yet the disregarding fool still feels he may enter the disaster zone, even feeling its threatening breath, without consequence.
We've all had our Balaam's Ass alerting us to dangers. Sometimes, we've listened, while other times, we've pressed on marching toward the folly.
As we get closer to the Lord, our attention to His wisdom grows sharper, keener, more in tune with the Spirit, and less with that folly. Our decisions change, our yearning for God grows, and our Balaam's Ass needs only to mention trouble once, and we listen.
This increase shows maturity and is something the Lord can work with to bring us to the heights of our calling. Romans 11:29 says, For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. But we still must apply diligence to make our calling and election sure. (2 Peter 1:10)
Never think you've gone so far down the wrong road that you're beyond use. Satan would love you to believe that. Repent, Get back with the Lord now, sharpen your Balaam's Ass and keep moving forward. That's the Spirit!
PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for my Balaam's Ass. I've always had a gut feeling about some things, but when your Holy Spirit entered my life, I received a spiritual gut feeling to go with it. I should be fully armed, but I still make mistakes, so please yell out loud if I'm not listening.
Photo by Milivoj Kuhar
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