Numbers 24:1-25:18, Luke 2:1-35, Psalms 59:1-17, Proverbs
11:14
Today is the 16th day of March welcome to the Daily
Audio Bible I am Brian. It is an honor, it is a privilege and joy and just fun…fun
to be around this Global Campfire together with you, to know that we’re in this
together, O just to know that is not a solitary endeavor, that we just have to
shoulder the loads on our own, that our brothers and sisters are going through
the same kinds of things we are all over the world. The Scriptures tell us that
and it’s true. We are in this piece of history together. We are in life together
because we find ourselves alive on this planet at the same time. And what a joy
it is to share this bit of history with you. And one of the ways that we
understand our own history is to see how history is played out over the
millennia with God in the middle of it, which is what the Scriptures give us. And,
so, let’s dive in. We are in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament and we’ve
been tracking along with this, man named Balaam who had a donkey who talked to
him yesterday. He’s been summoned by a king named Balak to curse the people of
Israel. It’s just not working out that way. Let’s pick up that story. Numbers
chapters 24 and 25 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we…we read of the
birth of Jesus. So, that’s a significant thing to point out. We won’t go into a
whole lot of depth other than to just point out what we were pointing out
yesterday. This is the last time will read the narrative of the birth of Jesus.
Indeed, we’re in the third of the four Gospels. And the Gospel of John is what
we’ll read after we finish the book of Luke, but the gospel of John doesn’t
refer to the Nativity story, the birth of Jesus. And, so, I’m just suggesting
that as we move through this territory that we give it significance. I know we
just passed through Christmas not too long ago and of this is a very famous
story, but this is the story of the coming of the Savior. And, so, just really
immersing ourselves into it, especially as we’re moving toward Easter, especially
as we have this opportunity move through the gospel of Luke and really absorb
and really put ourselves in the story as we move into the Easter season. So,
this will be important for us.
But ow let’s go back to the book of numbers because we’ve had
a developing story over the course of several days, a story of a man named Balaam
who seemed to be hirable to curse people and apparently was effective at doing
this sort of behavior because the king of Moab whose name was Balak sent for
him, sent far and wide and sent dignitaries to get him to come. So, we can
assume the Balaam had some sort of reputation for this sort of thing. Balaam also
talked to God and heard from God. And, so, I don’t want to go over like every
little detail of the story because it’s kind of drawn out but let’s remember
that the Moabite king Balak sent several envoys of prestige to get Balaam to
come back to Moab and there was a promise of riches. God spoke to Balaam and
told him not to go at least initially. When the first envoy came, they spent
the night, Balaam sought God, God said don’t go, he told the people, “I can’t
go. I can only obey God.” So, the envoy went home. The next envoy came and
said, “come, come at once.” Balaam said, “I can…I can only do what God tells me
to do. Wait…wait for me to hear from God.” And at that point God said, “you can
go.” So, in other words, “go with them but you can only say what I tell you to
say.” That is key in this story. Let’s remember that Balaam gets paid to do
this kind of stuff. Let’s remember that Balaam was promised prestige and riches.
At first God told him that he couldn’t go. So, that was a “no”. And then God
told him that he could go as long as he only spoke the words of God. So, what
was a no to riches and prestige kind of became a maybe depending on what God
told him he could say, which opened up all kinds of possibilities for what
might be able to happen to enrich Balaam’s life. And, so, they set off toward
Moab. Moab, so that it’s not completely confusing is essentially modern day
Jordan. So, Balaam has permission to go and there’s still a promise of riches
and prestige. And, so, they take off and that’s when the angel of the Lord
comes and stands in front of the donkey stopping the donkey three different
times. It’s odd. Like it’s an odd twist in the story because God gave Balaam permission
to go. So, why is God sending an angel to stand in his path? So, the donkey
sees the angel and veers off into a field. And, so, Balaam gets mad and beats
the donkey back onto the road and they keep walking. Then they go through a
vineyard and the donkey can’t get all the way through so Balaam’s foot gets
smashed. And, so, Balaam’s pretty angry about that and then he beats the donkey
harder and then finally they get to a really narrow place and the angel’s
standing there with his sword and the donkey can’t do anything but just sit
down. And Balaam is furious, like he’s seeing red with rage and beating the
donkey and that’s when the donkey talks to him like, “have I ever done anything
like this to you before? Why are you beating me like this?” It’s then that we
get true clues to what Balaam has been thinking about as they’re taking this
journey. So, the donkey says, “what have I done to make you hit me three times?”
And Balaam answers, and this is the funny thing. He doesn’t answer, “well…you
walked into a field or you smashed my foot. Balaam answers, “you made a fool of
me. If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you right now.” Balaam is traveling
with a high-level entourage from the king of Moab who have promised prestige
and wealth if you will come to the king. God told him no and then God told him
he could go and he’s been thinking about it. When his donkey misbehaves because
of the angel, he’s not confused about why he’s having a conversation with a
donkey and he’s not really all that angry with what the donkey did, he’s angry
because he’s embarrassed, which reveals that there is pride involved which
means that things could get very situational. Once the riches are promised and
the prestige is out there then maybe Balaam could say a little curse, even if
God didn’t announce it maybe he could say a little curse and get out of there. What
we see God doing by sending the angel is making it abundantly crystal clear to Balaam
is that he must only say what God says. There are no other alternatives on the
table at all. Once that is clear to Balaam, he does arrive in Moab to the king
Balak who immediately takes him where he can view some of the camp of the
Israelites. And Balaam asks for altars to be built and sacrifices to be given
and then he goes to seek the Lord for…for His words concerning Israel. He comes
back and blesses Israel. Balak the king of Moab who has sent for Balaam to come
curse Israel, he’s not happy about this. Of course, Balaam’s got the message
loud and clear. “I can only say to you…I can only say what God tells me to say.”
So, the king of Moab, Balak, is like, “well, let’s go look at this from another
angle. Let’s go look at the people from a different mountaintop. Like, let’s change
our location and maybe God will be more favorable to us over there.” And, so,
they go look. They build altars, they make sacrifices. Balaam is unable to
curse Israel. And, so, the king of Moab’s like, “let’s go to another place and
look at it from another angle and they do that and there is no curse, forthcoming
toward Jacob or Israel. So, Balak’s clapping his hands and he's…you can just see
him throwing sand, clapping his hands, kicking the dirt, yelling at Balaam like,
“I sent for you and I promised you riches and prestige, all you need to do is
pronounce a curse on these people and you’ve only blessed them.” Of course,
then Balaam pronounces blessings upon Israel and pretty much curses for the
nations surrounding them. Let’s now overlay our own story with this story.
Maybe we’ve sought God. Maybe God has said “no”. Maybe we’ve accepted no. Maybe
we waited a little while and it came up again and we sought God and he said, “yes,
but you must obey me completely.” And, so, we begin walking down that path. We’re
walking along with those who are around us in this endeavor. And then we begin
to think about all of the things that could come from this and then we start
shifting the story in our minds, our goals and priorities, the way we’re going
to position ourselves begins to suddenly change away from simply going and
being the spokesperson for God, like to do God’s will and more towards, “yes to
all of that and what can I carve off the side for myself?” And then maybe
obstacles come, maybe things that stop us in the center of the path or veer us
into a field or smash our foot and we’re working so hard to curse the devil
away from the thing that we can’t tell that there’s an angel blocking the path
because we have shifted our motivations. And, so, it looks like missteps or some
sort of attack is only illuminating our pride because we’re embarrassed. We can
find ourselves in Balm. Balaam ultimately got the message about what he could
say what he couldn’t say. Then we get to Balak the king and it really becomes
our lives all over again. He’s so glad Balaam is there. He wants the curse
brought down. The altars are built. Everybody does everything right, it’s just
that the curse isn’t forthcoming. And, so, what is Balak do? Let's…let’s frame
this differently. Let’s look at this from a different angle. Like let’s
position this differently. Maybe God will see our way from a different angle
and give us what we’re asking for, give us what we want. And that didn’t work.
And, so, what does Balak want? Well, then let’s look at this from another angle.
We do this all the time. We want a “yes”. We want what we want. And, so, we’ll
just keep reframing the question or keep angling or positioning or manipulating
the circumstances so that we can finally whittle the situation down so that we
can get what we want. This story exposes so many of the games we try to play. In
the end though what God has blessed will be blessed and that which is not blessed
by God will not be blessed. This story also has a very interesting twist as it
ends because it ends and then it’s like we’re in another story where the people
of Moab and the people of Israel are getting together and having meals together
and worshiping false idols together and…and the women in the men are
fraternizing together. It’s like a super odd…are we even in the same story? Because
it’s like we leave one chapter where God will not curse the Israelites He will
only bless them and Balaam only speaks blessing over Israel and then he
pronounces curses of…of the surrounding nations, and then the story ends, the
next thing we know, the Moabites, which is king Balak’s people and Israel’s
people, they are having sex. So, there’s like a bunch of stuff going on. How
did we get from “curse these people so that they will die so that I can destroy
them with my army to let’s all get together and have a party?” Ironically, Balaam
is involved here as well. We don’t see it here in this particular story. We will
get the rest of the story later in the Bible when a reference back to Balaam is
given that tells us that this fraternizing, that the women of Moab going to bed
with the men of Israel was a suggestion by Balaam. He ends up dying because of
that. So basically, Balaam can’t speak anything that the Lord isn’t telling
them to speak. But in the end, he gives a strategy. God’s not going to curse
these people. The only way is to seduce them. So, we see that even in the end,
after an angel in the path blocking the path, even though it becomes clear to
Balaam he can only speak on behalf of God what God says he’s still trying to
carve off a piece for himself and he dies, he dies in battle, as we’ll see
later. And, as, for our wilderness experience and how easily it would be to be
seduced away from the work in the wilderness toward the promise of comfort, ah,
there’s just so much in this one story that so brings up motivations, the
impulses that begin us on paths toward actions that we then carry out, whether
they’re right or wrong.
Prayer:
Father, we open ourselves to that because we are not above
lying to ourselves. We’ve done it lots of times. We’re not above any kind of
nuancing whatever it is that we want to manipulate whatever we’re trying to get.
We’re not above these things and sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it.
Sometimes it’s so inherent in the way that we grew up or so inherent in the way
that we’ve made life work so that we can get things done that we don’t even see
the deception, we don’t even see the nuanced behavior that is leading us on a
path that can’t end well. And, so, this is a season, this Lenten season is for
these things. It’s here marked as a season of the year where we really enter
into these more difficult deep questions about why we do what we do and what we
actually have our faith in. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit. Come into these
things that are being brought up, the things that You’re bringing up. because even
as we read these stories and talk about them the overlay is unique to each of
our lives. We all have our own story. And yet the motives of the heart are so
common that we can think of all kinds of things that You’re bringing up. And, so,
we invite You into that. We open ourselves to what You’re bringing up instead
of shutting it down. We open ourselves. Reveal to us the ways that we are going
astray, even if it’s just by a half a degree, even if it’s so subtle we can’t
even tell, because if we continue on that path, we’re going to ultimately be miles
away from where we’re supposed to be. We’re ultimately going to be somewhere
totally different than where we we’re supposed to be. So, we open ourselves to
realigning our lives with Your will. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of
Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today on Brian. I love you and I’ll be
waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi from Baltimore MD God bless you each and every one of you.
I so much enjoy the DAB and the DABC, the DAB Kids I listen to the proverbs I’ve
listened to the Psalms. I listen every day. I’ve known about DAB for the last five
or six years, but I’ve really just started listening this year, first of the
year and I’ve been so blessed. I hear people talk about China when she did Chronological
that I’ve actually even listened to China. I’ve listened to all…well half of
January all of February and now I’m in…up to March the 13th. So, yeah,
I’ve really been blessed by the Dab with this ministry and God’s really moving
in my life. And I just thank Brian and Jill and China, and everyone involved in
the ministry including Ezekiel. I just thank you listeners that call in with
your prayer requests. I’m touched deeply by each and every request and I pray
along with you and for you. And it’s such a joy to hear people like Kingdom Seeker
Daniel and Blind Tony and all the rest. I'm…I’m just a little nervous right now
but I am so happy to be part of this ministry and I just pray that the Lord
will reach out and touch each and every one of you and bless you deeply. And I
will be calling again.
Good morning this is Flourishing in the Desert and I’m just
listening to the community prayer for February 20th and I just want
to lift up the family with the beautiful little baby yet to be born who has
trouble with his heart. Lord God I thank You that none of this comes as a
surprise to You, that You are already there, and You are already with them.
Lord God I just thank You that You have chosen these parents to love this baby regardless
of defect and I thank You Lord that You are with them through thick and through
thin, that Your comfort and Your protection surround them. Lord God I pray that
You would encourage them, that You would strengthen them. And Lord should You
call this baby home early I just pray Lord God that You would comfort them even
in that. And Lord should this baby come to term and live a full and prosperous
life as long as You have deemed his life should be, I just pray Lord God that
these parents would just cherish every moment with this child regardless of
circumstance from the beginning of his life until the end. May they be thankful
to You for the blessing and the treasure that You had brought to them of this
beautiful, beautiful child. I thank You Lord for this child’s life and I thank You
for his parents. You are doing a marvelous work in each and every one of them.
I trust You Lord, I trust Your work, I trust Your provision, and I trust…I
trust You. And I just pray that the family would do so as well. I just lift all
of them up to You Lord in Jesus’ name.
Good morning it’s a beautiful Sunday morning in Saskatoon downtown.
My husband and I are here at a hotel having some renewal time in our marriage
and I’ve been watching a fireplace burning but not burning, just the flames
coming up off the coals. And what Brian said on March the 11th how is…how
we sometimes don’t believe in what…don’t believe that God understands what we’re
going through. And it’s been very painful what I’ve been going through and many
other people have experienced this pain during Covid and before and well beyond.
But I know that we are purified by the flame of God in our lives, and we will
be a fragrance lifted up to heaven that other people see. I appreciate it’s
painful it’s disruptive. I know I’ve been impulsive and said things that I
shouldn’t. I’ve dedicated too much to my career, but I know that God’s forgiven
me and I’m gonna take those lies captive like it says in second Corinthians 10:5
and take them captive to the obedience of God and allow the truth of the word
of God to penetrate into set me free. I also want to pray for Jade now one of
my friends who is still very ill. His body is on fire with inflammation of
autoimmune disorders. And he had a piece of his tongue removed make sure it’s
not cancer I guess and he and his wife Gloria and two children are so beautiful
and they need your prayers. It’s been three months now. It’s the middle of
December to now…
Hey DAB family this is…I’m just gonna just go by C in this
request. I just wanted to reach out, cry out to…I’m praying and I…I need you
guys to pray for me too that I’ve been dealing with postpartum depression now
since December and just things feel endlessly hard. I just feel weary. I’m so
tired of feeling this hopelessness and I know that God is working but I feel
like I can’t see any fruits of the Holy Spirit in my life right now and I just
honestly feel like I’m really worthless for His Kingdom. And I know have 4 kids
who need me, a husband who needs me and I am hanging on for them but I just
really need prayer because things feel really dark today and they have felt
really dark this week and last week. And yeah, so just please pray for me.
Prayer for Catalina continues She’s a sister of faith like a
flint and this is her ninth time in the hospital in a health…in the behavioral
health unit with psychotic affective bipolar disorder. It’s a long long
diagnosis. I don’t understand it, but God does, and He gives the doctors wisdom
and the treatment. And, so, I pray that the treatment this time will be so
effective that she will never have to return to the hospital the 10th
time in the name of Jesus I pray this. And I pray that she would be receptive
to what the treatment plans are and I pray for her brother and the remainder of
her family as they surround her with prayer, that they be encouraged as they
see Christ…Jesus move in her life so she will totally dedicate her life to you.
There are two persons who have lost their joy. Tammy is in remission from
ovarian cancer. She’s feeling emotionally overwhelmed and she’s now caring for
her husband as the kids haven’t come around much anymore since it seems that
she is doing better. Anne in Vancouver, after three years of suffering you’ve
been diagnosed with pelvic prolapse and your joy is also gone. We hear it all
the time, the joy of the Lord is our strength, but when we have no joy, you
know, it’s so hard to reach out and grasp that strength that is there for us.
So, sometimes hearing these things we can’t even fathom it. So, our family here,
we’re lifting you up and I am praying the joy of the Lord will return to both
of you, you will skip like dear, you will soar on eagles wings and you will be
so joyful it will be contagious to your family and friends.