Prayer of the Day: Almighty God, who sees the secrets of every heart, guard us from the deceitfulness of our desires. When we are tempted to go where You have forbidden, turn us back by Your Word and Spirit. Yet when we have strayed, let us find comfort in Your mercy, knowing that in Christ You have blessed us with forgiveness and life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Then the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho.

Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying: “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! “Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak. And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”

So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’”

And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to give me permission to go with you.”

And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor:‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’”

Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. “Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you— that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. Then the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”

So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”

And he said, “No.”

Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. “The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”

And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.”

Then the Angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

Imagine it is your anniversary, and you ask your wife if it’s all right to go out with your friends. She replies, “If that’s what you want to do on our anniversary, then go ahead.” Later, when you find yourself sleeping on the couch, would you be surprised and protest, “But you said I could go!”?

I don’t think any of you are naïve enough to think she was actually giving you her blessing. But sometimes we are deliberately naïve with God—like Balaam in our text. Now to be clear, God doesn’t say one thing and mean another. But God does test us to see whether we will be deliberately naïve, or faithful to Him and His Word. Watch how He tests Balaam in this text.

Balaam the soothsayer had two paths before him. One path led to riches and prestige. The other path was to stay home. The first looked better to Balaam—because, let’s be honest, he was the real donkey in the story.

His greedy heart wanted to go and wanted to find excuses to go. He longed for the promised gold. And if we are even as smart as a donkey, we can see that the treasure Balaam coveted was tainted. To obtain it, he would have to go against the Lord and stir up the Lord’s anger. Is anything your heart desires worth provoking God’s wrath? No.

If God appeared in His glory with a drawn sword, would a donkey dare to go past Him even if there was a pile of carrots on the other side? Not on your life. But we humans do it all the time. There’s something our hearts want down a road God forbids, and yet we convince ourselves it’ll be fine. Balaam convinced himself it was okay—and he paid for it. He got his riches, yes. But a few years later, he died by the sword at the hands of Israel (Num 31:8).

The heart is deceitful above all things. Look with me at how Balaam’s heart led him into deliberate naiveté, lest the same happen to us. Look also at how the world cannot curse what God has blessed. Learn by the Holy Spirit that God means what He says.

Moab was terrified. Israel had just destroyed two nations to the north, and it was obvious: God was with them. Balak, king of Moab, knew he couldn’t beat Israel on his own. So he hatched a plan: if I can’t defeat them because God is with them, maybe I can get God to be against them. So he sends for Balaam.

Balaam was a famous soothsayer. Ancient Mesopotamian artifacts mention him by name. Balak sends messengers offering riches and honor if Balaam will come and curse Israel. He hopes this will turn God against Israel.

It may seem at first that Balaam is being pious to this offer. He says the right things: “Let me check with the Lord,” and “I can’t do anything unless God allows it.” But it’s all surface-level. God made it clear from the start: do not go. You can’t curse them because I have blessed them. To go would be to lead Balak on that Balaam could turn God against His people. He could not. But Balaam’s heart craved that money.

When the messengers return a second time, Balaam says the right words again—but his heart still wants to go. So God lets him. It was a test.

Once again husbands, when your wife says, “If you really want to go out with your friends on our anniversary, I won’t stop you,”—should you go? Hopefully you’re smarter than a donkey and realize: it’s a test. She wants you to want to be with her.

God didn’t want Balaam to go. God had blessed Israel. Helping Balak against Israel, even trying to, was foolish and sinful. That’s why the Angel of the Lord was waiting for Balaam on the road. That’s why only the donkey could see Him. God was showing both us and Balaam how foolish greed makes a man—dumber than a donkey.

When Balaam finally sees the angel, he says, “I have sinned. If you don’t want me to go, I’ll turn back.” That sounds pious. What is wrong with it? What’s wrong is he still wants to go and still wants to find a reason to go. The angel’s presence with a drawn sword should’ve been enough. Balaam shouldn’t have asked if he should go—he should’ve repented in the dust and gone home.

But he didn’t. He still hoped he could get that money. God knew what was in his heart. And so, God let him go. God warns us about sin, but if we insist on it, He won’t stop us. God, in His grace, can even work some good. He will use Balaam to proclaim His blessing upon Israel. He can do the same for us: God can work some good through us even when we’ve gone down the wrong road. That is a comfort, but it should never be an excuse. Balaam should not have gone.

The donkey was smarter than Balaam. And often smarter than us. Don’t you recognize yourself in Balaam? Haven’t you desired something and talked yourself into thinking it was okay? Maybe like Balaam you really wanted an opportunity for riches that involved doing something shady or maybe what you wanted involved revenge or to get your way. Maybe you realized you had done wrong, but you were hurt or prideful and so more foolishly than a donkey you closed your eyes to the truth that your way was perverse before God.

Shame on us. Balaam’s donkey rebukes us, too. How many perverse roads have we let our heart take us down? That money brought Balaam nothing but grief. Whatever you’re lusting after—revenge, fornication, esteem, wealth—is it worth kindling the wrath of God? Then be smarter than a donkey. Don’t go down that road. Don’t even want to. Pray to God for help to see that lust for the rotten fruit it is. Ask Him to help you stop desiring it.

Three times in the New Testament, God warns us not to be like Balaam:

• 2 Peter 2:15–16— “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor… a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.”
• Jude 1:11—“Woe to them! For they… run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit…”
• Revelation 2:14—“…those who hold the doctrine of Balaam… to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.”

Take that to heart. When God says “don’t,” He means it. It’s wrong. It will not help you. It will bring wrath. Even if He lets you do it that doesn’t mean you should. It will bring you grief. But also take to heart this: No one can curse those whom God has blessed. God means what He says.

The Angel of the Lord in this story is commonly understood to be Christ Himself. That confuses some, because they think of angels only as creatures with wings. But “angel” means messenger. This Messenger spoke as God. He told Balaam that his way was perverse before Him. Balaam was sinning against Him. Christ had that message for Balaam.

Yet that same Messenger brought another message for him and us– you cannot curse what God has blessed. It is in Christ that God blesses us. In Christ, God makes us His people. In Christ, God lifts the curse of sin and death and frees us from Satan.

If Balaam had believed that message, Balak’s gold would’ve meant nothing to him. So take this to heart today: through Jesus—the Messenger and the Sacrifice of the covenant—you have been blessed with full and complete forgiveness of your sins. That is worth more than all the gold in Balak’s treasury.

Through the Holy Spirit working in the Word, we can see our perverse ways. We can see what we deserve. But we also see the riches of Christ. Because of grace, Jesus is not waiting with a sword at the end of your life to give you what you deserve. This is a gift this world cannot buy.

Christ stands ready to bless you with all He earned for you on the cross: riches that do not rust, do not corrupt, and never disappoint. Forgiveness. Salvation. Life eternal. They are yours because of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. They are yours because Jesus paid for them.

God means what He says. Trust that. Trust it when He says not to go down that road. And trust it when He says—for Jesus’ sake—He has forgiven all the sinful roads you’ve gone down and saved you from the wrath to come. Instead, He had blessed you with life in Him in heaven and He means what He says. Amen.

—Pastor Aaron Ude

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Rapid City, SD

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