Learning from Balaam (and avoiding the easy jokes), part I

In Numbers 22, we are introduced to a very interesting character in the Bible: Balaam.

Yeah, there's the donkey thing. And that's a big deal. But that's hardly the most interesting thing about Balaam.

What's particularly interesting about Balaam is that he apparently knew enough about God, our God, יהוה God of the Israelites, to know that our God reigns supreme, and yet, at every turn in the story we have of him, Balaam tried to defy God's Will.

The whole story of Balaam can be found in Numbers 22-24, with a footnote in Numbers 31:8 (the footnote is that he is killed), but I want to point out some of the important bits here.

In Numbers 22:1-7, Balak, the king of Moab, has sent a message to Balaam, asking him to curse the Israelites, who have been conquering a swath across Canaan at this point. Here's what happens next:

"Spend the night here," Balaam said to them, "and I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me." So the Moabite princes stayed with him.

God came to Balaam and asked, "Who are these men with you?"

Balaam said to God, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 'A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.'"

But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed."

The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak's princes, "Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you."

- Numbers 22:8-13

So Balak sends more guys and promises Balaam more money if he will come and curse the Israelites. Balaam's response is found in verse 18:

"Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God."

Now, what confuses me about this is that while Balaam's apparently got a pretty good grasp on the idea that he can't do anything that God doesn't want him to do, he's going to try to keep doing exactly those things. A bit thick, Balaam.

And stubborn, too! Numbers 22:21-35 tells the story of Balaam and his donkey encountering with angel of the LORD. Here, three times, Balaam tries to ride off to Balak's call, which was already against the direct order of God (back in v. 12). Each of these three times, his donkey sees an angel of the LORD blocking the way, standing there with a sword. And each of these three times, the donkey turns off the path, avoiding the angel. This infuriates Balaam, because he cannot see the angel, and so he beats the donkey. This is when God allows the donkey to speak. The donkey doesn't say much - just three questions for Balaam.

When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD , she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."

The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"

"No," he said.

Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

- Numbers 22:27-31

So the angel lets Balaam pass, telling him to only say what he's told. When Balaam meets up with Balak, he once again says, "I must speak only what God puts in my mouth."

And over the course of the next two chapters, that is exactly what happens. Balaam tries to bring curses against Israel, and each time, God instead puts blessings upon Israel in Balaam's mouth, enraging Balak, king of Moab, who had hired Balaam with the express purpose of having curses put upon Israel. This probably wasn't going to result in a very confident recommendation from Balak to all the other kings for their cursing needs.

Something worth noting happens at the end of Numbers 23 into the beginning of 24. This is after Balaam's first two attempts to curse Israel.

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there." And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland. Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert.

- Numbers 23:27-24:1

So even though Balaam has said, several times now, that he can only do what God commands him to do - and will in fact say it again in 24:13 - he is absolutely set on doing what God has already specifically, explicitly, plainly told him (back in 22:12) not to do. In fact, he has already seen that it is the Will of God - it is to God's pleasing! - that Israel be blessed! He has spoken as much with his own mouth, even if he didn't mean to say it!

I believe there are three important things that we can take from the story of Balaam and apply into our daily lives.

1) I believe that it is possible to know God and worship Him wrong.

2) I believe that it is possible to earnestly seek the Word of God and still disobey Him.

3) I believe that it is possible to for God to speak through you even when you don't know what to say.

So let's get into that, huh?

And I sure didn't put the easy one first...

As most of you probably know already, I'm looking for work as a youth minister within the church of Christ. I'll take a pulpit job if that's what God leads me to, but I'm really, really hoping for youth ministry. In this process of job searching, I've come across a few viewpoints that, quite frankly, upset me.

For instance, I was interviewing with a smaller church of Christ congregation some time ago that asked what my position was on fellowshipping with other denominations. I really didn't understand what that question meant - but I also really didn't like what it implied. When I asked for clarification, one of the men conducting the interview relayed an example to me.

He told me that the First Christian church in that town had organized a Christmas clothing drive for the homeless. (For those of you not familiar with the divisions of the Restoration Movement, let me clarify something real quick - the First Christian church is a church of Christ with a piano. Same movement, same founders, same beliefs, same everything with the one singular exception of instrumental worship.) The leaders of the First Christian church congregation got in contact with the leaders of the church of Christ congregation, asking if they would like to help out with the clothing drive - you know, "clothing the naked" - and the leaders of the church of Christ congregation said no, because they did not approve of the worship style of the First Christian congregation, specifically, the use of musical instruments.

Now... I'm not looking to have the discussion about musical instruments now, or really even to have it later, for that matter. I will say this much: I think if it were that big of a deal, we'd have a couple of verses that specifically say, "And oh yeah, don't use instruments when you worship God or He won't love you anymore."

But instead, we just have verses about, you know, taking care of people who can't care for themselves being defined as "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless."

So here we have, on one hand (let's just say the left, since that matches up with the goats in Jesus's story), a church trying to do the right thing by focusing on every last little minute detail, tenacious in their desire to meet the exact rules of engagement with God, who, apparently, won't even listen to your heathen prayers unless you and your home congregation worship in pitch-perfect a capella harmony.

And on the right (sheep this time), we have the church trying to reach out to those who need a hand, show them the love of Christ, put clothes on their backs for Christmas, but there's a piano involved.

Look, folks - I am not bashing the church of Christ. I am a member of the church of Christ, and I continue to attend the church of Christ, and I am looking for employment within the church of Christ. I am not even bashing this particular congregation. WONDERFUL group of folks, from what I got to experience. Great kids, kind parents, very loving congregation overall.

I just think the guys in charge at this congregation might have missed something.

I think they might be a little bit too focused on something really, really, really insignificant when compared to the literally life-changing impact that they could have had on countless lives in their area. I think that in their zeal to adhere to a rule that at best can only be backed up with a defense of "Well, we don't really know for sure, so it's best to err on the side of caution," these guys have missed out on what God is really about.

Balaam knew something about God. Apparently, a good bit of something. Balaam knew that God is sovereign, and that to try to go against the will of God is an impossible task. And yet, three times, Balaam tried specifically to do that. He was specifically told, by God, "Don't curse Israel." But he goes with Balak up on the mountain... to curse Israel!

Too many times we fall into traps just like the leaders of that church where we hang on to what we know about God - or about faith, or about Christianity itself, or whatever it is - and we completely ignore another truth that is just as valid, and just may in fact have some very important bearing on our lives.

Didn't Jesus say something to the Pharisees about something like that?

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

- Matthew 23:23-24

Oh, right, yeah. Guess that counts!

(In case you missed the connection I was trying to make here... "Piano" is to "gnat" as "not helping the homeless" is to "camel.")

And that's actually a pretty good segue into my second point... But that's gonna have to wait until next week.