The story of Balaam is probably one of the most widely recognized accounts from the book of Numbers, especially that part when God enabled Balaam’s donkey to speak. Talking animals make a lot of money for filmmakers because they catch our attention, and that’s what God intended with Balaam. Balaam was a professional sign reader, someone who was supposed to be able to look at the weather, animal innards, animal behavior, and such to identify signs of divine will and activity. When his donkey veered off the road several times, Balaam should have seen this unusual activity and tried to figure out what was going on instead of simply beating the donkey to get back on the road. God made this clear by opening Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord who told him, “I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me” (Numbers 22:32). The signs were there for Balaam to see, but instead of addressing the cause of the problem, he tried to beat his circumstances into submission. Had he succeeded, the angel would have killed Balaam and spared the donkey (Numbers 22:23).
It’s often easy to see when we’re getting off track, but it’s not always easy to see why. Have you ever been working on a project and found yourself hitting obstacles over and over again? Someone once said, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Unfortunately, when we keep on hammering away at our problems with no progress, we often reach for a bigger hammer instead of stopping to see that we really need a screwdriver. Maybe our problem is that we can’t read the signs clearly. However, when we keep encountering resistance, despite greater and greater effort, at some point we have to stop and take a closer look to see what’s in the way.
Balaam couldn’t see that it was God who was in the way, that God stood opposed to Balaam’s reckless path. Even though he claimed he “could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God” (Numbers 22:18), he also tried to “find out what else the LORD will tell me” (Numbers 22:19). Digging deeper into Balaam’s story, we find that Balaam was far less interested in pursuing a relationship with Holy God than in his own benefit. Even though Balaam claimed to be on God’s path, he was clearly following his own reckless path. Eventually, it killed him (Numbers 31:8) because he “loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Peter 2:15).
When we focused on Balaam’s account in Numbers 22-24, we found that Balaam was playing games with God, trying to stand between God who blessed Israel and Balak who wanted to curse them, hoping to receive blessings from both. Eventually, when Israel actually fought the Moabites and Midianites, we find that it was Balaam who advised them to seduce Israel to worship and serve the false god Baal (Numbers 31:16). Certainly, Balaam demonstrated the truth of Jesus’ words: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despite the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
While Jesus mentioned money specifically, it was in the context of staying on track in God’s kingdom. Where Balaam was seeking treasure in this life, Jesus calls us to seek God’s treasure in heaven. When we try to stand someplace in the middle, we will find ourselves getting off track, most likely heading away from God despite our hopes of staying close to God. Balaam said all the right things and tried to do what he thought were deeply spiritual, hoping that this would get him what he wanted. The fact is, his attempt to stand in the middle revealed his true position; again, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
There is no doubt that God himself draws people to himself because of his holiness in all of his attributes; however, there is no doubt that there are many other people and things in this world that attract us, as well. It simply isn’t possible to split our attention or affection and stay on track with God, so watch the signs, watch your heart, watch your words, actions, and focus. Where are you headed?