Troublesome Topic: TIMES WHEN ASKING FOR FAVORS ENDED POORLY

BALAAM

Think about the story of Balaam found in Numbers 22-24. When Balaam received the request from King Balak to put a curse on the people of Israel, God spoke to him and told him not to do it (22:12). So he sent the king’s messengers away. But King Balak sent them back a second time with an offer of great riches. Balaam told them he could not do as they asked, even if the king gave him the royal palace filled with silver and gold. However, he also told the messengers to stay overnight and he would find out “what else the Lord will tell me” (22:18-19) (NIV). God had already spoken clearly, there was no need for further discussion. The only thing left to do was obey. This means Balaam wanted to have it both ways; he wanted to avoid being under God’s wrath because he recognized that the God of the Israelites was the Creator and Lord of the whole world, but he also wanted to please King Balak and be richly rewarded for it. So he said the right thing at first, but that night he tried to bargain with God or asked God if He was sure about His first answer. In other words, he used prayer to press God for what he, a mere man, wanted to happen.

In this case, God relented. He seems to have changed His mind. However, God’s purpose had not changed. He would not allow any curse against Israel and He wanted to work in Balaam’s life, if Balaam was willing to allow God to do His work in him. In this process God would reveal openly what was hidden in Balaam’s heart. So God told Balaam “Go with them, but do only what I tell you” (v. 20) (NIV).

The next morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and left with the princes of Moab who had come to persuade him. But the Biblical text tells us that God was angry with Balaam (v. 22), so he sent an angel to oppose Balaam’s progress. The donkey saw the angel and would not continue forward. In response, Balaam beat the donkey. This happened three times with different circumstances each time, but the consistent parts were that the donkey saw the angel, avoided it and Balaam beat her.

Finally God allowed the donkey to speak in Balaam’s language and confront him about what he had done (vv 28-30). Then God opened Balaam’s eyes so he could see the angel and he bowed down before the angel who told him that he would surely have killed Balaam if the donkey had not taken action.

In Verse 34 Balaam admitted that he had sinned, meaning he had sought wealth and not fully obeyed the Lord of Lords. He continued by saying he did not know the angle was there, or he would not have beaten his donkey. Immediately after saying that, he says something that continued to reveal what was really in his heart. He said, “If you are displeased, I will go back.” In other words, he was still hoping to go through with this thing and get some money out of it, even though the angel just told him that he (the angel) almost killed him.

The angel, speaking for God, continued allowing him to go down this reckless path. He told him, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.”

King Balak met Balaam and the others at the border of his territory. Balaam told him that he could only speak the words that God put in his mouth. That didn’t phase King Balak because he was used to the divination practices of the Ancient Near East where a priest of prophet pretended to speak for the gods while also giving the king what he wanted in the end.

What followed was three times when God gave Balaam a message of blessing or affirmation for Israel instead of curses, the way Balak wanted. These oracles that Balaam spoke to Balak are recorded in Numbers 23:1-24:9.

Because Balaam refused to curse Israel, King Balak got angry at him and said that God had kept him from receiving a reward of any kind. Balaam responded to this by giving two more oracles from God. Then he mounted his donkey and returned home – without any reward.

However, that is not the end of the story. In chapter 25 of Numbers we read about the way the women of Moab (the same country that King Balak was from), and some from Midian, seduced many of the men of Israel and led them into worshipping the god Baal Peor. Balaam’s name is not mentioned in the narrative of that seduction, but the “rest of the story” is given to us in Numbers 31:16 where we read that the women involved were following the advice of Balaam. So it was Balaam who had suggested to the Moabites that they could gain advantage over Israel through seduction and idol worship rather than curses. Seeing how he acted earlier, we can assume that he made that suggestion in order to get money.

Therefore, Balaam is an example of someone who asked God for something, and God granted his request even though it was a bad thing. God did not allow Balaam to control the outcomes – Balaam did not get the money he wanted by going to King Balak (although he may have gotten money later for his suggestions about seduction, but that was different from what he was asking God for).

If you only read the part about the oracles, it sounds like Balaam is a good guy in this story, but the parts where he made God angry, and the additional information in Numbers 31:16 tell us otherwise. Later, Jude compares others who run after profit to Balaam. In the end his reputation was not that of a good guy, only a guy who persisted in seeking wealth.

Begging God for what he wanted did not help him in the end, in only revealed what was inside him, which was exactly what God wanted to achieve.

At the final judgment, I would not want to be Balaam or a person like him.

HEZEKIAH

Consider the story of King Hezekiah in II Kings chapter 20. He was very sick and God sent him the prophet Isaiah to tell him to get his house in order because he was going to die. Hezekiah begged God for more time and God gave him 15 more years, but in those years, he turned away from God.

I think this served to demonstrate clearly to Hezekiah and others where his heart was. He started out good, by the time he got deathly sick his spiritual condition may have been on the edge, or darker than most people realized. When word came that it was God’s will for him to die, he did not accept is, but pushed back against it. He was focused on his own accomplishments rather than Gods will. God granted his request for a favor to show everyone clearly the direction in which he was headed.

The next lesson is GRATITUDE CHANGES ME