Balaam was asked by Balak of the Moabites to curse the people of Israel. When he consulted his “boss” (the Lord), he was told to turn down the offer – to which he obeyed. Balak then came back with a counter offer sending a more senior delegation. Balaam’s first answer was courageous, “even if you give me your house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the command of the Lord to do less or more.” Brave words to say to a king. But then he followed up with, “but stay here, and let me go ask Him again.”

It seemed to me that it was the proper action, you consult these things with the boss. But the following verses tell us that although God did allow Balaam to go, his anger was kindled because of this. Why is that?

Maybe because Balaam already knew, or is supposed to already know, God’s stand in this issue. The situation has not changed. Sending higher level princes to ask the same thing does not sway God. It does sway people, though. Money, power, fame – our words in public may say those things are not important, but our eyes, our hearts, they betray us. We are not immune to these enticing prospects, even prophets who can speak directly to God get tempted.

Praise God, the story does not end here.

God, then, makes a master stroke in object lessons. There is a chain of command in the world, and God is supreme. When God commands, you obey, even if your superiors ( who are themselves under God ) command the opposite. Sometimes, the discrepancy in the command is because you see God and they don’t. Will we face pain and hardship for not obeying our direct superiors? They have the ability to do so. But obeying God’s command is more important. What if a have had a lifelong relationship with our superiors? God’s command is still more important.

An important point to make now is that when we say we are following God’s command, we better be sure it is God’s command. We cannot go on invoking His name for something that is not true. Things will not go well for those that talk about God’s command when in fact it isn’t.

“Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam…”

Lord, thank you. Please, open our eyes. Let us see you, let us see ourselves. That we may not sin against you, that we may see your goodness and your sovereignty. That we may act, and respond, properly according to the truth.

I think this is a beautiful psalm. These are words of a person who knows God well, and has a real personal relationship with Him. David touches upon many topics in this short psalm: thankfulness; reverence; God’s love, faithfulness and holiness; His sovereignty and power; His provision for strength and protection. It would be great if I am able to pray like this just naturally and from the heart.

Jesus will come, whether unexpectedly or expectedly depends on how you are living your life. So live your life expectantly knowing that He will come anytime. Stay alert and “clear-headed” as Paul says. This is the opposite of being asleep (I think this means lazy, apathetic, disregarding the warning or in denial), and being drunk (impulsive, short-sighted, terrible decision-making). And remember, to be on the alert 24/7 is impossible – unless with the power of the Holy Spirit.

For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭9-11‬ ESV)

‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭3‬ ESV)

No matter how sincere and active our vertical relationship with God is, if we neglect our horizontal relationships with others, our relationship – or more accurately – our attempt to have a relationship with God will amount to nothing.

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37-40‬ NLT)

The second is not less important, it is of equal importance.

This is the true fast: not only are we to humble ourselves before the Lord (vertical), we to be an instrument of God’s justice, grace, and blessing. As we learned last Sunday, to serve others.

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭6-7‬ NLT)

God will be with you. On our next fast, we need to consider both the vertical and horizontal.

In the previous chapter we learned that the Israelites were not granted a shortcut through the land of Edom. The way Moses asked, I am guessing (might be wrong) that the Edomites were probably the descendants of Esau. Anyway, they were somehow related, they asked nicely, and yet they were denied passage. This happened after the waters of Meriba incident. Did God have a say in this?

Now because of this they have to go a longer way. Then, surprise, impatience kicked in and they were complaining and grumbling again. Moses, Moses, again Moses. We don’t know how Moses responded this time – because he usually runs to God to vent his frustrations. I am guessing he has learned a valuable lesson, to not let these things get to him. This time, it was God who made the move, sending fiery serpents that bite and caused people to die.

This must have been a sight for Moses. He left Egypt with much more people, there’s still a lot, but they are definitely a smaller group than when they left. It was not the strong, nor the rich, nor the influential that survived, those that remained were those who were faithful and humble before the Lord.

Is this an analogy? Again, hard to think that it’s not. As we go through our own personal journey, we have to remove from ourselves those which are not pleasing to the Lord. We bring a lot of baggage from our old selves when we were still slaves to sin. As we journey – and it’s going to be through deserts and dangerous territory – God will reveal these sinful tendencies in us, and will help us remove it. Because we are not built to withstand this purging, left to ourselves we would either give up or die in the process. So God has made the way – Jesus, raised up on the cross. That if we only just look to him and believe in him, we will be healed.

Israel had some great victories after this event. They seem to be back on track again (yay!)

The journey continues…