Materials
An Exodus People: Becoming God's Community of Faith and Freedom
The Noble Steed and The Promises of God
Numbers 22 - 24
by R. Todd Bouldin
Life is full of surprises, and no surprise is bigger than to find out that God was working in ways that you did not know or expect to keep all of His promises to you.
Prayer - O God, our vision is so narrow, and our faith is so weak. As we open this Scripture together, remind us that Your sovereignty is greater than our vision, and that You are ever present in all of life to bring about Your sacred purpose and blessing. In the Name of Your Son, Amen.
The Hebrew journey through the wilderness was almost over after 40 years. The first generation of doubters and complainers had died in the desert sand, and now a second generation had arisen even mightier and greater than they. This morning we are going to visit two locations.
Location one is the encampment of Israel on the plains of Moab, just across the Jordan River from the Promised Land. Not much was happening among them as they waited for the next move. In fact, these three chapters about Israel’s waiting in Moab really contain no mention of anything going on in the Hebrew camp at all.
Location two: The land of Moab. The real action of God was outside the Hebrew camp, away from the Tabernacle, and away from the people God called His own. God was busy on another front with a man named Balaam who was a diviner in the land of Moab. The king of Moab was a man named Balak, the son of Zippor. The king heard that the Hebrews had just defeated the Amorites in battle, and so he was afraid these strangers were now encamped in his country. In fact, the Bible says that Moab was “in great dread of the people because they were so numerous.” According to a census that would be taken soon, the Hebrews numbered over 600,000 at this point – and that was just the men who could go to war. So probably the number of people was in the millions. So you can understand why the Moabites were anxious about having millions of Hebrews, who had already shown their propensity for winning battles, suddenly show up in their country in droves. King Balak was terrified. So he tried to get some divine help from God.
Living in the area was Balaam, a seer, a fortune teller. Balaam was not a Hebrew, but he knew how to pray and listen to God. Not only did he speak to God, but He knew the intimate name of God known only to Israel. And God listened to Him too. So the frightened King Balak sends the frightened elders of Moab to Balaam’s house “with the fees of divination in their hands.”
When the elders get to Balaam’s house, they show him the money and ask him to come to the king and curse the Hebrews. Given his line of work, Balaam was probably accustomed to putting curses on people. But to curse millions of Hebrews was asking a lot. So he said, “I don’t know. I’ll have to pray about it.” He does and God tells him, “Absolutely not. You cannot go with these men to curse the Hebrews because I have already blessed them.” So Balaam tells the elders of Moab, “Sorry, I can’t go. God has blessed the people you are wanting to curse.” In response, desperate Balak just sends more money.
You get the feeling that Balaam really wants to accept the offer, because he just keeps talking about how much money the king could give him. In the New Testament epistle of Jude, we are told that Balaam was motivated by greed (Jude 1:11). But he knows better than to go against God, so he prays again, asking God if he could go to the king and perform just this one little curse. Life would be so much easier, and he could pay the bills off and live a nice diviner life. Surprisingly, at least in one version of the story, God let him go. God will sometimes honor your bad choices.
The next morning, Balaam saddles his donkey and heads for Moab. Now he doesn’t think he is cursing God – he is just going to put a little hex on these Hebrews who are scaring everybody – all in a day’s work. It is just another job for which he will receive another fee. But he is clearly on the road to being a curse to God.
Blessing or cursing? That is the fundamental choice each of us has to make with how we will use our life and resources. A curse is a way of profaning that which is supposed to be sacred. Your life was meant to be so sacred that through it we get a glimpse of God’s blessing, but a cursed life is a profaning of its sacred calling. Nothing is more profaning of God’s sacred purpose for you than selling your soul for just a little money or for a little better time.
All of us want our lives to be a blessing, and we may even seek out God’s direction for our lives as Balaam did. No one wants to profane life or distort it for purposes other than that for which we were created. We want to be a blessing. But we just keep ending up on the wrong road of our own making, and often it is a cursed road because it is littered with our greed, self expression and ambition, and not the purpose of God.
Again, we do not intend to curse God. But the voices of Moab are so distracting and domineering. They confront us every day through the radio, the television, and the mail, promising us that if we will just buy their product or receive your pre-approved credit card that we will be happy. Before we know it, we are up to our ears in debt and no happier than we were before the stuff. Then the debt causes us to have to work more to fund the lifestyle, then we have no time left for the priorities of the heart. So now we are stuck with a job we don’t like to afford a lifestyle that still leaves us empty. Or stuck in an affair that is eating away at our soul, or addicted to alcohol or substances or pornography that leaves us depressed and empty.
The day we realize this is the day the curse begins – you even feel like cursing because life just seems so out of control. You feel your life spiraling downward, and there really is very little life, very little of you, and very little of God left anymore.
If like Balaam, you have somehow wandered onto the wrong road with your money, or your career choices, or with your life, the good news is that God often will keep standing in the way of your path. As Balaam rode his donkey to Moab, an angel of the Lord appeared on the road wielding a huge sword. Balaam couldn’t see the angel, but the donkey did. And the donkey knew to start going another direction. So the donkey veered off the road into the field. Balaam became irritated that he couldn’t proceed down this road, so he became irritated and struck the donkey to get it back on the road and progressing toward his fortune. He had no idea that God was protecting him from a dangerous path at every turn. Then the angel showed up again at a pass between the rocks. Balaam again didn’t see the providential work of God, but the donkey did, and the donkey shoved up against the rock, hurting Balaam’s leg. Again Balaam struck the donkey. A third time the angel appeared at a narrow place in the road. This time the donkey just lay down. And for a third time Balaam struck his donkey in anger.
It’s so easy to get angry at the interruptions God has put in our path towards fulfillment. But often it is the donkeys – the crazy events that we can’t explain, the terrible frustrations that seem to come out of nowhere, and the things we would least expect – that are God’s grace to us from walking the road of self-destruction. It is the “no” of the grace of God.
Both The Lord and the donkey had enough of this, so God opened the mouth of the donkey. Now we are not too accustomed to seeing talking donkeys except 'The Noble Steed in Shrek: The Movie'. But Balaam’s donkey had some sense. The donkey said to Balaam, “Cut it out, will you?” Balaam was so angry at the donkey that he didn't even notice that the donkey was speaking. He just said, “It's a good thing for you that I don't have a sword. You would be a dead donkey.” Balaam was so frustrated. Then The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam so he could see the angel. And then it all made sense. The angel and the donkey were God’s grace to Balaam to save His life, and to save God's people too. Balaam fell to the ground saying, “I have sinned against God.”
If you persist on the wrong road, God will use anything to get your attention. The new home will feel empty. The job you need to afford all of this stuff is going to suck away your soul, or maybe even go away. The stuff you keep buying and think you have to have is going to break. Life will just keep falling apart and going nowhere except towards your destruction. You will be blessed if you end up in a field. When these things happen, you can get angry and frustrated, or you can see what is obvious. Even a dumb donkey can see that this is leading to your destruction. Pay attention to the chaos, to your life that seems out of control, and to the roads that keep leading to nowhere. It may be God’s way of telling you to the fall to the ground and beg for God's help.
If your life feels out of control, if you are frustrated with what is not happening in your life, or if you have settled for a fee rather than a life, then there is a way to get back on the right path again. If you want to take control of your life and be a blessing, you have to begin by falling on your face and confessing that your life is out of control. You need to tell God how desperately you want to be off this road and how much you need Him to open your eyes. The angels of God will take it from there. They will raise you up to God’s sacred purpose for your life and transform your curses into blessings.
Now let's return to Location 1, the Plains of Moab, where Israel waits to inherit the Promised Land. It may have seemed to Israel that they were waiting for God to work as they encamped along the border of the Promised Land. But God was already working – just not in a place or with people that they expected. God was relating to a person outside the covenant promise, God was listening to his prayers, directing his life, and making him a blessing – all for their good.
The point of this text is not that every path to God is true or right; the point is that God is always and everywhere at work to accomplish His purposes, even among people that we do not consider true or right – with those way beyond our expectation. That is how big God is. How mysterious are His ways, how wide is His sovereignty and grace! Even places and people furthest from our expectation. God was at work, in His sovereignty, even outside Israel, even with Israel's enemies -- so that He might keep all of His promises. Is your God large enough to allow God to work and reveal Himself to anyone beyond your expectation or understanding? If not, your God is too small, and if your God is too small, then your life will be small and fearful too. Any person, or church or nation that believes that God's truth or work is limited to itself is in danger of serving an idol that looks more like itself rather than the Sovereign God who knows no partiality, denomination or borders.
Whether you are in Israel's camp or in Balaam's camp, God is always doing more to keep His promise in your life than you know. He may be working with people or circumstances that you think are against you, or with circumstances that appear to threaten you, or with people that you would perceive are the enemies of the church – not because they are right, but because God's promises are sure. He may be protecting you in ways you don't even know.
An angel that you can't see may be standing in your path – and it may seem like a frustration, but it turns out that it may just be a grace. God may be shutting doors from a career that would kill your soul. Or He may be orchestrating the conditions for a career that will change your life. If you are spending too much time at work and tied to your computer or television, it may just break down. If you think that a certain relationship will do you good when it actually would do you harm, don't be surprised if that person just isn't into you, or if circumstances prevent you from seeing them. If our church or nation intends on going its own way, don't be surprised if an angel thwarts the plan or if donkeys start talking.
Next time you are frustrated with interruptions that keep you from the life you want, just realize that God may be putting some Noble Steed in your life to divert you from the path and the things you think you must have to be happy but that would eventually lead to your destruction. Donkeys come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the donkeys often are God's way of protecting your life and keeping His promise to you and to all those who call upon the Name of God.
Whether you find yourself today in Israel's camp or in Balaam's camp, whether an insider or an outsider, God wants to accomplish His sacred purpose through your life. We settle for such cheap deals. God has never settled for cheap deals for your life – He will do everything in His power – even die for you and raise up your broken and dead life – so that your life can soar on eagle’s wings to accomplish more than you ever thought imaginable, more than you will ever even know. But it can only begin when you quit cursing the donkey and open your eyes to Jesus Christ who is always working to do you good, and to do good to people beyond your knowing.
After his confession, Balaam was sent by the angel on to Moab. Only instead of cursing the Hebrews, he blessed them three times from the mountaintops. Of course he lost his fat fee, but he received something far greater. He got to be a blessing.
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