We are deep in the thick of the story of Balaam and Balak and I’m sure you will agree that it is quite a theological feast just loaded with all kinds of morsels for our growth and understanding of Scripture.
Let’s take stock of where we’re at in this incredible story and go over what we’ve gleaned so far.
So far…
WE’VE LEARNED THAT...at times God Himself can will use a false prophet to achieve his purposes and this will even include having direct contact with that false prophet.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT…since Balaam was what we would call today a diviner, a seer, and/or a magician, he ran in the circle of gods and thus it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that he also knew the God of Israel. Let’s not forget that the evil one can counterfeit and mimic the works of HASHEM.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT...the reason Balaam couldn’t see the Angel of the Lord standing in his path was because he was spiritually blind. This was super ironic given that Balaam was a diviner which means he should have been familiar and close to the spiritual world.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT...if the path to our desires seem blocked, there could very well be a divine reason for it. In such a situation, we would be wise to pause and look for the Lord to see if He might not be trying to communicate something to us.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT…the Lord is only will to go so far in stopping our free will. Over and over, God told Balaam He did NOT want him to go with King Balak of Moab to curse Israel. Yet, in spite of God’s direct expressions, Balaam remained stubbornly persistent and kept going back to God with the hopes that God would change His mind.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT…a sorcerer negotiating with a god was just the usual method of divining. The truth is Balaam would have had no idea how to communicate with the God of Israel unless it was in a manner he was familiar with.
WE’VE LEARNED THAT...even though God allowed Balaam to follow his free will which was against His Divine Will, God still accomplished His purposes. Israel would NOT be cursed and in fact what ended up happening was that Israel was blessed. HASHEM is a master of making lemonade out of a lemon!
Finally, and I think this is one of the biggest lessons of them all is…
WE’VE LEARNED THAT...no matter the circumstances God will miraculously accomplish His purposes working through our free wills! You may ask how in the world can God bring about His Will through another’s completely free will? Or the even more mind-boggling question is how in the world can the Lord bring about His Will through the free will of another person who is dead set against God? Well, He can and He does!
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