Ever see Space Jam? If you haven’t, I can’t say I recommend it, but I’ll tell you what happens. The characters of cartoon land (Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, etc.) get challenged to a game of basketball by very powerful aliens invading earth. The stakes are high, and it looks like they’ll lose, so the toons hire the ONLY guy on earth who could stand against such odds. They get Michael Jordan!
In Numbers 22 we meet Balak, a king with a similar problem. He looks out and sees the Israelites camped on his border and is scared out of his wits. He knows the Israelites are beating up on his neighbors… in fact, “beating up” is too nice a term. A more accurate term might be “annihilating” his neighbors. Balak sees he’s in big trouble, so he does what any smart king would do if his back were against the wall. He scours the globe and finds the most powerful guy he can and offers him whatever it takes to get his help. He sends some of his assistants more than 350 miles down to Mesopotamia, to a town on the Euphrates River, to hire a famous guy named Balaam.
When they get there, Balaam, who is not a prophet of God, consults God who tells him not to go with them. Balaam eventually decides to go anyway, apparently because the money is too good to turn down. We know the rest of the story: the donkey he is riding turns out to be smarter than his master and ends up speaking to Balaam.
Paul says in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In Numbers chapters 22-25 we find that the converse is also true. “If God is against us…who can be for us?” King Balak hires Balaam to be “for him” and is incredulous when Balaam not only fails to curse his enemies but instead ends up blessing them! At one point Balak says, “I brought you here to curse my enemies and you keep blessing them!” Balaam has a great quote in the midst of all this. He says, “even if Balak gave me his palace filled with gold and silver, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says.”
Balaam goes as a mercenary prophet for hire and ends up leaving with nothing. Balak the King realizes that even if he gave all he had, he could not stop God and his people. Will anything stop us now? Can we be like Balaam and say, “I must say only what the Lord says?” This week we look at an old story that we too often dismiss as a story for kids, missing the powerful, simple message that is very much meant for us adults.
In Numbers 22 we meet Balak, a king with a similar problem. He looks out and sees the Israelites camped on his border and is scared out of his wits. He knows the Israelites are beating up on his neighbors… in fact, “beating up” is too nice a term. A more accurate term might be “annihilating” his neighbors. Balak sees he’s in big trouble, so he does what any smart king would do if his back were against the wall. He scours the globe and finds the most powerful guy he can and offers him whatever it takes to get his help. He sends some of his assistants more than 350 miles down to Mesopotamia, to a town on the Euphrates River, to hire a famous guy named Balaam.
When they get there, Balaam, who is not a prophet of God, consults God who tells him not to go with them. Balaam eventually decides to go anyway, apparently because the money is too good to turn down. We know the rest of the story: the donkey he is riding turns out to be smarter than his master and ends up speaking to Balaam.
Paul says in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In Numbers chapters 22-25 we find that the converse is also true. “If God is against us…who can be for us?” King Balak hires Balaam to be “for him” and is incredulous when Balaam not only fails to curse his enemies but instead ends up blessing them! At one point Balak says, “I brought you here to curse my enemies and you keep blessing them!” Balaam has a great quote in the midst of all this. He says, “even if Balak gave me his palace filled with gold and silver, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says.”
Balaam goes as a mercenary prophet for hire and ends up leaving with nothing. Balak the King realizes that even if he gave all he had, he could not stop God and his people. Will anything stop us now? Can we be like Balaam and say, “I must say only what the Lord says?” This week we look at an old story that we too often dismiss as a story for kids, missing the powerful, simple message that is very much meant for us adults.
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment