We humans have a wealth of explanations to excuse our poor choices and disobedience. From little up, we learn to justify our misbehavior with phrases like, “Everyone else was doing it,” “I just couldn’t resist,” or “In this particular instance it wasn’t really wrong.” All of these ring hollow yet we continue to offer them anyway hoping that a poor excuse is better than none.
One that is less frequently verbalized but is nevertheless quite prevalent goes something like, “If God didn’t want me to do it, He’d stop me.” Such reasoning obviously negates any measure of freewill and turns God into a perpetual enforcer, which He is not. He can and sometimes does supernaturally intervene, but He normally allows us to do as we please.
God has made His general will clear for us in the Bible and those broadly stated directives apply rather specifically to most every question regarding our conduct. Concerning items that are less obvious, His Holy Spirit leads us into all righteousness and away from all sin if we will follow His guidance.
One of the most intriguing stories in our Bibles is found in the book of Numbers. In chapters 22-24 we find a situation where a foreign nation hires some type of spiritual medium named Balaam to curse the Israelites who are approaching their territory. After God made it clear that he was not to participate, Balaam kept pushing until he was eventually allowed to go but agreed to only say what God told him.
Even then, an angel was sent to block Balaam’s path and to give a final warning to speak as he was told. Blinded by his desire to make a buck and improve his resume, Balaam doesn’t even see the angel although his donkey does.
When the donkey hesitates, Balaam resorts to abuse by both cursing and striking his animal that was much wiser than himself. In one of the rarest instances, the donkey actually speaks to her rider questioning his harsh actions. Apparently distracted by his anger, Balaam exhibits no surprise at a talking animal and tells the donkey he would kill her if he had a sword.
Shortly thereafter, Balaam sees the angel who tells him his mount has just saved his life. After further warnings, Balaam proceeds and ends up blessing the Israelites instead of cursing them. He nevertheless encouraged intermarriage which later became a destructive snare to God’s people.
If God stopped us every time we were on our way to sin, our vehicles would be breaking down and crashing constantly. Our animals and perhaps even our devices would be talking to us continually. Indeed our radios and phones often do speak but we turn them to other stations and apps that tell us what we want to hear.
Balaam’s actions were never forgotten and are mentioned in the New Testament as well. We are told in 2 Peter 2:14-16, “With eyes full of adultery, [those who despise authority] never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed — an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam … who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey — a beast without speech — who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”
Too often we love the wages of wickedness and leave the straight way. We ignore God’s clearly revealed will in His Word as well as His Holy Spirit’s voice. We even disregard warnings from close friends and pursue sin anyway. Only too late do we discover the error of our way which usually involves pain for ourselves as well as others.
As we travel life’s roads, let’s pay attention to all the signs and messages God has already given us so that our donkeys and our cars don’t have to rebuke us.
Blessings, George