Balaam and Balak

Numbers 22:21-23:30

Luke 1:57-80

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 11:12-13

Why don't more Sunday School teachers talk about Balaam? This is such a good and crazy Bible story.

I mean, besides the confusing part...does God want Balaam to go talk to Balak or not? It's a good story. Balak wants Balaam to come curse the Israelites because he's afraid of them but God says, "nope, they are blessed, not cursed."

Balaam goes to Balak and God says, "say what I tell you to say."

Balaam's donkey inherently knows the fear of God, as I believe all of creation does..Jesus says if we didn't worship Him the rocks surely would.

Balak pulls all the stops, does everything within his power to get Balaam to say the thing he wants to hear, "the Israelites are cursed."

But Balaam is repeatedly obedient to God, even in the face of this willful king.

How...how does he do that? I struggle to obey God when He asks me to pray for others in privacy! Yet Balaam knows what Balak wants to hear and yet he keeps saying, "no, God says no." In fact, God says more than "no." He says, "the Israelites are not cursed, they are blessed."

And also, why? Why is God blessing these ridiculous people? Every five seconds they forget how good God has been to them and they want to go back to Egypt for the food.

Every five seconds the Israelites change their mind, but God does not change his mind. "God is not a human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind."