Today’s Reading:
Numbers 22:22-28 (vv. 26-28)
“And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou has smitten me these three times?” (vv. 26-28 AKJV)
In the story of Balaam and his faithful donkey of many years, Balaam a prophet, and a professional seer/diviner who communicates with God was not aware of the presence of the angel, but his donkey did. Clearly showing that his spiritual insight and obedience to God are not equal to those of his donkey (vv. 21-41). This is because of God’s displeasure with Balaam by binding him to spiritual realities. He should have been the one to see the angel with the sword, instead his animal did. He desired to kill the donkey for embarrassing him (v. 29) not knowing that it is his life that is being threatened by the sword of the angel. Balaam’s prophetic insight was blinded by the prospect of the reward from Balak (vv. 22-35). As a woman or man being used by the Holy Spirit, do you clearly see vision of heaven, or hear clearly from God or are you being driven, dominated, or controlled by familiar spirits? Have you ever wondered why you are not seeing the vision of heaven. In our busyness, it is possible to be working for, and walking with God with close eyes, deaf ears and lacking spiritual understanding and insight.
A lot of things could be responsible for this, ranging from spiritual carelessness and shallow spiritual understanding; to being too busy to listen to God talking with us; to listening to God but bent on doing what we think is best or beneficial; to mixing our divine task with worldly affairs and gains, to too much familiarity with and overconfidence of God’s affairs. It may even be listening to ungodly critics and feeling ashamed. This will make us to run into several errors, mistakes and fall into the many traps of the enemy leaving us to wander that Lord, but I am faithful in my walk with you. Balaam did well by first asking God before responding to Balak’s request brought by the elders of Moab and Midian. The Lord knew that his intentions and character were not as honourable as he claimed in his discussion with Balak’s messengers. But because of the reward of the divination and the promises of Balak, Balaam closed his mind to what God was telling him (v. 12).
A good example of this is the Lord’s instruction to King Saul, to go and completely destroy the Amalekite nation - men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys. Instead, Saul destroyed the Amalekites and spared King Agag’s life and kept the best of the loot with the pretext that he wants to sacrifice the animals to God (1Sam. 15). Saul and his men destroyed only what was worthless and of poor quality and spared what appealed to them. This led to the Lord rejecting Saul and taking the kingdom of Israel from him.
OLUFUNMILAYO TITILOLA ADEKUSIBE
Prayer:
Father, I acknowledge my inadequacy, deliver me from the darkness around my life and family, in Jesus name.
My Lord, like lightning and thunder from heaven, let Your light from heaven penetrate into, and fill my life, in Jesus name.
My Father in your mercy, give me the grace to find my place of relevance, in Jesus name.
Father, empower me to remain steady, committed, and consistent in the task you have called me to, in Jesus name.
Father, I shall not serve you for filthy financial gains, in Jesus name.
Father, dismantle every man-made programme in the body of Christ and set up Your own programme, in Jesus name.
Merciful Lord, pull down and paralyse the stronghold of lawlessness, immorality, and drug addiction in our nation, in Jesus name.
Comments