Have you ever set out to do something that you thought was right but met obstacle after obstacle along the way? Be it trying to secure a loan for a car purchase, applying for school, turning in job application after job application or simply walking to your freezer to get a bowl of ice cream and by the end of it you have a stubbed toe, a broken glass bowl, and ice cream all over the floor? Some tasks in life seem simply impossible.
When this happens to me, I will at times push harder and harder to climb over these pesty obstacles just to find out in the end that God was protecting me from something or that He had other plans for me. Read the story below of a stubborn individual who is a lot like me and you. It comes from the Bible, Numbers 22:22-35. To give you the background of whats going on, Balak, the king of Moab is terrified that Israel is going to wipe them off the face of the earth. So he calls a seer of God named Balaam and offers this guy some mad cash in order to curse Israel. Balaam wanted the dough but knew he could only speak God's words. Now we pick up at verse 22.
So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
22 But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”
31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.
I could not paraphrase that story, you had to of read it for yourself. Balaam has an intelligent argument with his donkey (you call it what you want, I am calling it his donkey) and lost. The donkey spoke some sense into Balaam because it had a perspective on the situation that Balaam didn't. The issue was that Balaam saw the donkey as his adversary and began to beat it, when the donkey was only trying to protect Balaam.
I wish I could laugh at Balaam and say that has never has happened to me. I can say I have never had a conversation with a donkey, at least one that was coherent, I mumbled my way through it. I bet you never had one either. But let me ask you this, what are you currently pushing hard to do in life that is being met with obstacle after obstacle. Why do you mumble under your breath, "God, why can't you just make this easier"? Have you ever considered that there is an angel of the Lord standing in the way of you and your goal. Who knows, maybe God is protecting you from something you cannot see, or he has another purpose for you. But sometime it means that you have to trust those donkeys in life in order to know what God really wants for you.
