I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     The passage tells us that Balaam set out with the men from Balak, king of Moab. It also tells us that God was angry with Balaam for doing so. So angry that He sent an angel to intercept Balaam. It does not explain why God was angry, since God had told Balaam during the night to go with them. This leaves it to us to interpret. The best answer I have heard to this is the one my father gave me. My father suggested that nothing had changed from the first time to the second time that Balaam asked God what he should do, except that Balak was offering him more money. God had already given Balaam an answer to this question. Yet, here was Balaam asking again. So, God told him to go ahead and go, but sent an angel to give him a warning on the way.
     As Balaam was riding along, his donkey saw the angel that God had sent standing in the road with drawn sword. The donkey left the road and went into the field. Balaam beat the donkey to get it back on the road. Once again the angel stood in the road in Balaam’s path, this time at a place where there were walls on either side of the road. The donkey went past the angel as close to one of the walls as it could manage (and thus as far from the angel as it could manage). This caused it to crush Balaam’s foot against the wall. Again Balaam beat the donkey. The angel moved further ahead of Balaam to a place where there was no room to get around it. This time the donkey laid down and refused to move. Once more Balaam beat his donkey. This time God gave the donkey the power of speech. The donkey asked Balaam why he was beating it. Balaam’s answer is interesting. He was not beating the donkey in order to train it. He was beating the donkey because it had made him look like a fool. The donkey asked Balaam a very basic question, had it ever behaved like this before?
     At that moment, God allowed Balaam to see the angel with its sword. Balaam immediately realized that he had been in the wrong and prostrated himself. The angel told him that the Lord was angry with Balaam because he was following a path that was reckless relative to God’s will. The angel told Balaam that if the donkey had not turned aside, he would have killed him. Balaam acknowledged his sin and offered to turn back. The angel told him that he should continue on his way, but to be sure to say only that which God told him to say.
     Balak, king of the Moabites, met Balaam as he arrived and asked why he did not come sooner. Balaam told him that he was there now, but that he could only say what God told him to say. Balak performed a sacrifice and threw a feast. In the morning, he took Balaam to where he could view the Israelite camp. Balaam told him to build seven altars and prepare sacrifices for each altar. Balak had the altars built and produced the sacrifices. Balaam performed the sacrifices and went aside to pray to God for His message about Israel. Balaam returns to Balak with a blessing for the Israelites. Balak is furious because he had requested a curse. Balaam tells him that he can only say what God has told him to say. Balak takes Balaam to another place where they can see a portion of the Israelite camp, hoping that Balaam can curse at least a portion of the Israelites. Once again Balaam offers the sacrifice that Balak produces and once again he goes aside to speak with God. And once again he returns with a blessing for the Israelites rather than a curse. The passage ends with Balak taking Balaam to yet a third location. Once more Balaam performs the sacrifice of Balak’s offering (we will have to wait until tomorrow for the results of this third attempt).
     There are several points in this passage. One I have already touched on, God does not expect us to keep coming back to Him and asking Him, “Do you really mean that you don’t want me to do that?”
“How about now?”
“Now?”
There may be times when it is appropriate because something significant has changed. But some things never change. We should not go back to God to see if He has changed His mind just because we didn’t like His answer. The next point has to do with jumping to conclusions and getting angry because someone or something makes us look foolish. Balaam beat the donkey for saving his life. He didn’t know that it had saved his life. All he knew was that it had made him look foolish. Sometimes we need to be made look foolish for our own good. It has happened to me more than once. The only thing I hate worse than being made look foolish is learning that the reason that someone made me look foolish is because they were saving me from the consequences of being foolish.
     The final point is that Balak thought that maybe if Balaam looked at Israel from a different perspective, God’s answer on whether or not he could curse them would be different. While it is often valuable for us to look at things from a different perspective, it doesn’t change God’s will. God’s will is that we bless those around us. It is never that we curse them.

     When John was born and it was time to name him, Zechariah had been unable to talk for a quite a long period of time. People were getting used to the idea that he would never talk again. Those who had come to celebrate his birth and circumcision wanted to name him after his father, Zechariah. Elizabeth told them that “No, his name is John.” They were horrified at the thought of giving him a name that was not a family name. They turned to Zechariah to find out what he wanted to name his son. Zechariah signed that he wanted a writing tablet. When they gave it to him he wrote that his son’s name was John. At that moment Zechariah was able to speak again and immediately began praising the Lord. Zechariah and Elizabeth raised John in the wilderness.

     The psalmist writes a condemnation of rulers who defend injustice and protect the wicked rather than support justice and prosecute the wicked. He tells us that God will sweep them aside and bring about their destruction and that of the wicked people they protect. It will happen swiftly and without warning.

     Belittling and making fun of one’s neighbor is foolish, no good can ever come of it. Those with wisdom hold their tongue in such situations. Those who tell you other people’s secrets are likely to reveal yours. If you want to be trusted do not tell others all that you know.

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me. I had three visits from Nepal yesterday. If whoever that was is back today (or someone else from Nepal), do you know Dale Nafziger?

     After the Israelites turned aside from Edom the Canaanites that lived in the Negev attacked them and took some of them captive. In response the Israelites called on God for vengeance against this group. God granted their request and they utterly destroyed the cities and towns of the Canaanites living in the Negev.
     From there the Israelites took the road around the land of Edom. Once again the people of Israel began grumbling about the wilderness and complaining about having nothing to eat except for manna. In response God sent poisonous snakes among the people and many were bitten and died. This caused the people to repent of their grumbling and ask Moses to call on God for relief. God told Moses to set up a bronze snake on a pole. Anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze snake and be healed. They moved on until they came to the border of the land of the Amorites. When they requested permission to cross the land of the Amorites, the king of the Amorites attacked them (as opposed to the king of Edom who merely mustered his army to keep them out). The Israelites responded to this attack by conquering the land of the Amorites and settling in their cities. They then continued their march which went toward Bashan. The king of Bashan also attacked them and they defeated him as well and occupied his land.
     The Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan river, across from Jericho. The people of Moab were terrified by the numbers of the Israelites. The king of the Moabites, Balak, sent messengers to Balaam, who had a reputation for being able to bless and curse whole peoples. When the messengers arrived, Balaam told them to stay overnight while he inquired of God if he should go with them. God told Balaam not to go with them because He had blessed the people which Balak wished cursed. In the morning, Balaam told the messengers that he could not go with them. Balak sent a second, larger delegation to Balaam promising to pay him whatever he wished if only he would curse the Israelites. Balaam told them that he could do nothing, no matter how much Balak offered him, that was against the will of God. However, he told them to stay the night and he would inquire of God again. This time God told Balaam to go with them, but to only do that which He instructed him to do.
     Do we recognize that we are powerless to do anything against the will of God? Do we carefully seek God’s will before we act? I know that all too often I act without taking the time to seek God’s will in prayer. I have learned to sleep on all big decisions, to think them through over night. Even so, I do not spend as much time seeking God’s will on many decisions as I ought.

     When Elizabeth was six months pregnant the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary (this would be while Zechariah was still unable to talk). Mary was confused and troubled by the angel’s appearance. When the angel told her that she would conceive and bear a son, she questioned how that could happen since she was still a virgin. Gabriel told her that the Holy Spirit would cause it to happen and as evidence that this was possible pointed to the pregnancy of her cousin Elizabeth. Mary’s response is one of humble obedience, “I am the Lord’s servant.”
     Shortly after this Mary traveled to Judea, where Zechariah lived. She appears to have stayed there until Elizabeth gave birth. When she arrived and greeted Elizabeth, Elizabeth was immediately aware that Mary’s child would be special. Elizabeth tells Mary that Mary is blessed because she believed the Lord would do what He said He would do. Luke then records one of the earliest hymns of the Church which he tells us was Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s greeting. It is often referred to as “The Magnificat” or as “Mary’s song”. I tried to summarize this song or to restate the message it has for me today, but find that not truly possible. So, I will settle for quoting a few lines that especially resonate with me today.

     Once again this psalm really speaks to me. The psalmist calls for God to have mercy on him. I will take refuge in the shelter of God’s wings in times of trouble. In addition to the beauty of this psalm there is one line that gives us something to apply to our lives. If we walk a path of integrity before God and man, our enemies will fall into the traps which they lay for us.
     The psalm tells us that we can sing God’s praises because we are confident in Him. Am I confident enough in God to praise Him at all times? I strive to be and I will echo this line and call for its fulfillment:

     The godless destroy their friends with the things that they say about them. The righteous, however, avoid suffering from the words of the godless because they rely on knowledge, not say-so. When you hear something bad about another, consider the source and what you know about the individual in question.
     Society as a whole benefits when the righteous prosper and when the wicked fall. The behavior and words of the upright lead a community to glory, but the words of the wicked lead to its downfall. When a society praises the wicked and condemns the righteous it is doomed.