Excerpt from All and Only

The man who doesn't let God rule him
is lowered beneath the donkey who does.

God is so much God that no person can thwart Him,
no person can fool Him and
no one can use Him.

Balaam is a name that stands for greed - through the ages
of eternity it will so stand.
Shameful corruption of a pure calling.

The king of the Moabites wanted to pay Balaam to curse a
protected Israel. And he would pay well to secure that
curse. Being a valid prophet, Balaam asked God.
The answer was "no," clear and unequivocal.

So the king upped the price. Balaam asked again and the
answer seemed to have changed to "yes."
When you ask God a second time,
it exposes that you want something more than you want His will.

And Sovereign Lord will often release you to the thing.

You now have to walk it out.
It nests in your heart so you must see its sorry conclusion.

It's not His will but it is His permission.
However, make no mistake:
His will will prevail . . . with you or without you.

So Balaam's donkey corrected him.
Balaam's lust to go was such that he didn't realize
his pride had just been insulted
by God's use of
the dumbest and basest of animals.

Balaam wished for a sword to kill the animal
that would dare to stop his prosperous adventure.

* * * *

Reading: Numbers 22

Balaam's donkeyness was greater than the donkey
who had the good sense to be afraid of
a Divine Being with a drawn sword!

The Angel of the Lord pressed the donkey until
there was no place to escape and
she just fell down under her master.

When God uses a donkey to speak to you,
it means you
are more unruly than it.

When Balaam was allowed to see his Heavenly Opponent
"standing in the way with His sword drawn in His hand;
and he bowed his head and fell on his face."
At last.

And the Angel of the Lord said to him, Why have you struck
your donkey these three times? See, I came out to stand
against and resist you, for your behavior is willfully
obstinate and contrary before Me.

This "Angel of the Lord" was probably an appearance of Christ.
Our God is stronger than our most defiant strength,
more determined than our most stubborn will.
And . . . He will win in every fray in the end.
 

Copyright © 2000 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick