Faithful Donkey to the Lord

Being a Faithful Donkey to the Lord Num 22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? Balaam’s dumb ass proved to be more sensitive to the biddings of the Lord. The donkey could see danger ahead in the path Balaam was taking to go to do the bidding of Balak, the king of Moab. The latter saw the increasing might of the Israelites and how they vanquished their foes and neutralised every advance of Moab. He understood that the Israelites were blessed by God and that was what made them mighty and formidable. He wanted the prophet Balaam to neutralise their blessing by cursing them. As a reward, Balak offered Balaam great honour in his kingdom. Balaam did right and enquired of the Lord whether he should proceed to curse the Israelites. But under persuasion of delegations of nobles sent by Balak a second time, he persisted in seeking to go. Balaam without realizing it had moved to second gear in his journey with God- that of moving according to the permissive will of God. Often we are like Balaam in our lives. We allow ourselves to be persuaded to do that which the Lord has specifically forbidden. It might be due to peer pressure or the hope of better prospects of promotion or prosperity. We might even tell ourselves that the Lord has not given us a specific direction in the matter. But truth be told whatever we can do and ought not to do is already spoken in the Word. But like Balaam, our eyes are blinded and our ears are deaf to see or hear and our spirits are stubborn to oppose the express will of God. Balaam was moved to such anger that he struck his faithful donkey thrice, harder each time. He said that he was so angry with the donkey for mocking in disobedience his master that if he had a sword in his hand, he would have not hesitated in striking it dead. In our relationship with the Lord, we are more puny, weak and worthless than the donkey in Balaam’s eyes. Yet the Lord persists not in anger but in compassion, tolerance and forbearance with us. First, he sends His Word to us. Then, He sends his angel to warn us. When even that fails, He makes even the dumb to speak to us. Our car might break down. Some other unexplained event might happen. Several signs and blunders will be strewn across our path of folly. As we are stubborn and adamant in doing that which the Lord has forbidden, the Lord makes his angel stand in our pathway with a flaming sword and opens the eyes of our donkey to see it. But we ourselves will not see it till we are angry and frustrated like Balaam. Sometimes, when I was stubborn, the Lord has spoken through circumstances and through our children. Children are given a prophetic utterance when parents are too insensitive or stubborn. When leaders are too absorbed and set in their ways, the Lord makes an ordinary member of the flock to speak up His words of warning or admonition or guidance. As scripture says, “ God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things to confound the mighty.” Indeed, it is better to be a “faithful donkey” to the Lord like the one that carried Jesus down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday than to be a disobedient prophet. We must be always aware of our prominent streak of foolishness, weakness and stubbornness that is ingrained in us. Whatever we seek to do, we must seek the Lord’s will and signs of confirmation that it is His pleasing will. We must also be sensitive to see on time any warning signs of disapproval. Prateep V Philip