April 30th, 2024
Written By: Amanda Allums
I wanted to bring to our memory a story in Numbers 22 about the time when Balak, King of Moab called upon Balaam to stop the Israelites from invading his land. When Balak called upon Balaam, he ordered him to curse the Israelites so they would not come on his land because there were so many of them that he thought they would destroy his land and take over. But, on his way to curse the Israelites, he was riding a donkey and the donkey bolted off into a field because it saw an angel in the road with a sword in his hand. Balaam did not see the angel so he beat the donkey to make him get back on the road. They were on their way again and the donkey saw the angel in the road again and tried to walk by the angel in a narrow place and ended up crushing Balaam’s foot. Balaam therefore beat the donkey again.
They kept going down the road and the angel met them in the road again but Balaam still didn’t see the angel and the donkey did, so it came to a halt and laid down under Balaam. Balaam went into a fit of rage and beat the donkey again so the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak and the donkey asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” They had a whole conversation, and when Balaam realized that the donkey had never behaved like this before, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel. The angel explained that surely he would have killed Balaam if the donkey had not run, moved, or laid down. There is much more to this story but this is the part I wanted to rehash so you can understand where I am going with it. Feel free to read the whole chapter for yourself because it is such a good reminder of God’s patience with us.
There are so many times when God puts things in our path to stop us because He is protecting us from danger, or even protecting us from our own decisions. So how do we know if it is the Lord stopping us or a hindrance from the devil?
Just like Balaam, our eyes must be open, and we must be spiritually in tune with the Lord so we can see things as God wants us to see them. This world has deified humans so much that we think we are never wrong and we are always right, to the point we think when something gets in our way, and we push our way past something, then that makes us strong and tough. But that is not always the case. Sometimes God puts things in our way to stop us from getting off the path He has for us or to protect us from a plan the devil has for us. We cannot always assume that we are always right or that we know what is best for ourselves and push our way past hindrances.
We must pray and seek God’s perfect will for our lives and pray that God would allow us to be sensitive to His still small voice. We must also be humble enough to accept God’s plan and lay down our own selfish desires in order to remain in His perfect will. So the next time you are faced with a challenge, open your heart and your spiritual eyes to what may be going on in the spiritual realm so you can make the best decisions for your life according to God’s perfect will. Maybe God allows certain things to get in your way to protect you or because the timing isn’t right. Maybe God allows you to not see something so you don’t veer off the path and seek after your own selfish desires. We can allow certain situations or challenges to either crush us or we can allow them to open our eyes to something greater than us and a plan that we get to be a part of. I have been Balaam before and pushed my way past what God wanted for me and veered off the path He had laid out before me, and I am thankful God gave me a second chance. I want to encourage you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so you can remain in that perfect will and walk in the path God has created for you because it will be far greater than anything you could ever plan for yourself or your family.
I wanted to bring to our memory a story in Numbers 22 about the time when Balak, King of Moab called upon Balaam to stop the Israelites from invading his land. When Balak called upon Balaam, he ordered him to curse the Israelites so they would not come on his land because there were so many of them that he thought they would destroy his land and take over. But, on his way to curse the Israelites, he was riding a donkey and the donkey bolted off into a field because it saw an angel in the road with a sword in his hand. Balaam did not see the angel so he beat the donkey to make him get back on the road. They were on their way again and the donkey saw the angel in the road again and tried to walk by the angel in a narrow place and ended up crushing Balaam’s foot. Balaam therefore beat the donkey again.
They kept going down the road and the angel met them in the road again but Balaam still didn’t see the angel and the donkey did, so it came to a halt and laid down under Balaam. Balaam went into a fit of rage and beat the donkey again so the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak and the donkey asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” They had a whole conversation, and when Balaam realized that the donkey had never behaved like this before, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel. The angel explained that surely he would have killed Balaam if the donkey had not run, moved, or laid down. There is much more to this story but this is the part I wanted to rehash so you can understand where I am going with it. Feel free to read the whole chapter for yourself because it is such a good reminder of God’s patience with us.
There are so many times when God puts things in our path to stop us because He is protecting us from danger, or even protecting us from our own decisions. So how do we know if it is the Lord stopping us or a hindrance from the devil?
Just like Balaam, our eyes must be open, and we must be spiritually in tune with the Lord so we can see things as God wants us to see them. This world has deified humans so much that we think we are never wrong and we are always right, to the point we think when something gets in our way, and we push our way past something, then that makes us strong and tough. But that is not always the case. Sometimes God puts things in our way to stop us from getting off the path He has for us or to protect us from a plan the devil has for us. We cannot always assume that we are always right or that we know what is best for ourselves and push our way past hindrances.
We must pray and seek God’s perfect will for our lives and pray that God would allow us to be sensitive to His still small voice. We must also be humble enough to accept God’s plan and lay down our own selfish desires in order to remain in His perfect will. So the next time you are faced with a challenge, open your heart and your spiritual eyes to what may be going on in the spiritual realm so you can make the best decisions for your life according to God’s perfect will. Maybe God allows certain things to get in your way to protect you or because the timing isn’t right. Maybe God allows you to not see something so you don’t veer off the path and seek after your own selfish desires. We can allow certain situations or challenges to either crush us or we can allow them to open our eyes to something greater than us and a plan that we get to be a part of. I have been Balaam before and pushed my way past what God wanted for me and veered off the path He had laid out before me, and I am thankful God gave me a second chance. I want to encourage you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so you can remain in that perfect will and walk in the path God has created for you because it will be far greater than anything you could ever plan for yourself or your family.
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