Numbers 22:28-30

Why would we kick an old friend, even if he is a donkey sometimes?

Balaam seemed to have some ability to cause a curse upon others. He had been hired to curse the people of God as they journeyed through Moab. As he made his way toward his dreadful deed, the Lord put an angel with a sword in the pathway. Balaam did not realize how close to death he had come.

Balaam’s donkey could see what his master could not. It balked and refused to take his rider any further. He struck and threatened the animal when it suddenly began to talk. “We have been friends for a long time; can’t you see that I am trying to save your life?” Only God knows how many people have been warned of troubles and dangers ahead by others who could see things that they could not. Some, like Balaam, rejected wise and loving counsel; and later they may have wished they had listened.

The Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road. It can be humbling to find out that a donkey can see things more plainly than us. As the Gospel song says. “I thought I had to see and feel to prove that what I loved was really real. But passion turned to ashes, things I held to dust, I found reality in simple trust.”

When a young frightened soldier feared the battle because the enemy was strong, Elisha prayed for him to see the real reality. God opened his eyes and he saw angels with chariots of fire all around them. What battles are you facing today? What if you could see the real reality?

The gospel song continues: “My faith still holds on to the Christ of Calvary, Oh blessed Rock of Ages cleft for me. I gladly place my trust in things I cannot see; my faith still holds on to the Christ of Calvary.”