Numbers Chapter 23: Verses 5-12: NIV-UK
The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, ‘Go back to Balak and give him this word.’
So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. Then Balaam spoke his message:
‘Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
“Come,” he said, “curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.”
How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the Lord has not denounced?
From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my final end be like theirs!’
Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!’
He answered, ‘Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?’
2 Timothy Chapter 4: Verse 3 (NIV-UK)
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Sometimes I think Balaam gets bad press. Although he did give in to pressure and perhaps had not the purest of motives, he did what God said, and he also recognised that he could only say what God told him to. He made that clear to Balak. Balak however only wanted to hear what he wanted. He wanted the people of Israel to be cursed. Balaam had made things plain to him but he didn’t want to listen; he had his own agenda. Paul also warned Timothy to be on guard about this type of situation – people only wanting to hear from God the things that suit them.
Things don’t change too much in modern times either. Sometimes when we ask God for direction, we don’t get the answer we hoped for. How do we react? Are we like Balak – do we go in the huff? Or do we recognise that God has spoken and we can’t change what He says, therefore the best thing we can do is be obedient to what He tells us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and thus knows what’s best for us. He will always answer our prayers, but the answer will not always be the one we want to hear. If it were then He would not be God.
Dear Lord,
I’m grateful that You will always tell me what I need to hear, even if it’s not what I want to hear. Help me to take what You say to heart and act on it, no matter what. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.