DEVOTION - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012

DEVOTION –  WEDNESDAY,  APRIL 18, 2012

“Balaam”

BY

PASTOR BOB COY

Balak…sent messengers to Balaam… Numbers 22:4-5 (NKJV)

Some characters in scripture make you scratch your head, and Balaam is one of them. He was a walking contradiction: He was very spiritual…but he was also very ungodly.

Balaam steps on the scene as the Israelites were passing through the region of Moab. The king of Moab was a man named Balak, and he felt very threatened by Israel because they had just destroyed their neighboring nation. So Balak comes up with a strategy to deal with them. He sends for Balaam, who had a reputation for being connected to God, and hires him to curse the Israelites.

What’s interesting is that God speaks to Balaam and tells him not to curse the Israelites because His blessing was on them (Numbers 22:12). Obviously, there’s something very spiritual taking place here, because he’s able to dialog with the Lord. So it’s accurate to say that Balaam trafficked in spiritual things.

But the more you read through Balaam’s story in Numbers 22-25, you see that this “spiritual” man wasn’t a very “godly” man. He refuses to accept God’s will and persists in taking the job because it involved a huge payout. In the end, he’s not able to curse Israel, but he provides King Balak with a creative strategy that causes Israel to bring a curse upon themselves (Numbers 31:16).

This is the lesson we learn from Balaam: Spirituality doesn’t always equal godliness. As his example shows, it’s possible to have a strong leaning towards spiritual things without having a heart after God. Just because someone professes to be “spiritual” doesn’t mean they’re right with the Lord.

We need to be very careful, because the Bible warns there are going to be people like Balaam in our lives who will try to deceive and lead us away from God’s will (2 Peter 2:15). Don’t accept what a person says based on their spirituality, but let their obedience to the Lord be the basis for trusting them.