Balaam & his 2nd & 3rd Prophecy
Bible Passage: Numbers 23
Balak the king of Moab was intimidated by the advancing great numbers of Israelites. Having heard all that Israelites had done to the Amorites (see Numbers 22), Balak thought of employing a ‘magic’ way to destroy the Israelites. Balak sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse Israel. In exchange, Balak offered Balaam great wealth and high honour.
In the previous chapter, we read that Balaam rejected the offers more than once before agreeing to meet Balak in person. Balak was persistent in his mission to get the Israelites cursed that he would not take God’s messages spoken through Balaam for an answer.
In the midst of pressure and threat of provoking Balak’s anger, Balaam was similarly persistent in preaching the exact message as God intended. Balaam did not change the messages so to be accepted or favoured by king. Balaam is a faithful messenger of God.
“…. Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” (v12)
“…. ‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?” (v26)
All of us are messengers of God. It is His will that we bear witnesses for Him in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. In other words, we bring the good tidings to all the people out there who do not yet know God.
We may have to preach the same messages to our friends, family and strangers for more than once, similar to Balaam’s repetitive effort. We must not be disheartened but persistent and faithful in our roles as preacher.
As the receiver of a message it is natural that humans selectively hear the parts of message that are delightful to our ears. A saying goes “you see what you want to see; you hear what you want to hear”. We tend to block out the bits of messages which are either not the answer that we were looking for or prickling our conscience.
We could be in danger of taking the messages / God’s words out of context if we were tweaking what we hear forcefully to our own will or understanding. Let’s not be a stubborn listener like Balak, who was insistent on hearing his own voice instead of God’s.
Let’s pursue to be the persistent and faithful messenger of God. Let’s also have a quiet and understanding heart to listen to His still voice.