I was thinking about a cool story the other day, admittedly because it was the first time someone told me that an archaic phrase for "donkey" often found in the King James Bible is "ass". A very young and immature Joseph found that amusing and, if I'm being honest, it's still a little funny to me.
The story is found in Numbers 22, a book not often explored in contemporary churches. Here we see a prophet named Balaam who is being asked by a pagan king to curse some of the Israelites; a task which God is obviously not keen on supporting. Balaam wanted to be used by the pagan king, perhaps due to promises of status and riches, but God had told him that cursing his chosen people was forbidden. After returning to God multiple times, God gave Balaam permission to leave, but he remained angry that the prophet's heart was more interested in what he could gain from this pagan king than what God had said he desired.
This is where the story gets strange (or, rather, stranger than it already was with Balaam talking directly to God). Balaam begins his journey, riding his donkey, and God sends angels down several times to block the animal's path. The angels appear imperceptible to Balaam but the donkey could see them clearly. Let's take a look at how this interaction plays out; this is a longer segment of scripture, but it is well worth it to learn a valuable lesson.
23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing on the path with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into the field. So Balaam hit her to return her to the path. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow passage between the vineyards, with a stone wall on either side. 25 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord and pressed herself against the wall, squeezing Balaam’s foot against it. So he hit her once again. 26 The angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to the right or the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. So he became furious and beat the donkey with his stick. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and she asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You made me look like a fool. If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you now!” 30 But the donkey said, “Am I not the donkey you’ve ridden all your life until today? Have I ever treated you this way before?" “No,” he replied. 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the path with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam knelt low and bowed in worship on his face. 32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you, because I consider what you are doing to be evil.[c] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and let her live.” 34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the path to confront me. And now, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back.” (Numbers 22:23-34)
Balaam was a prophet, himself, so that may explain why the donkey's ability to speak didn't immediately freak him out. Regardless, even seeing the supernatural ability of the donkey, he never once questions his own actions. The problem is clearly the donkey. After all, HE is a man of God. HE knows far better than a simple animal. HE knows that he's doing the right thing... except he wasn't. Balaam was blinded by his own sense of self-righteousness and couldn't see that he was acting contrary to what God intended.
So what does this mean to us? It can be so easy to begin thinking that we know precisely what God wants us to do and to look at others as "out of touch" or "sinners corrupted by a fallen world". God has a funny way of putting donkeys... those King James "asses"... in our lives that sometimes are trying to tell us something profound. Sometimes others are better able to see our missteps because their vision isn't being clouded by our own over-inflated view of ourselves.
As we seek God, we have to ensure we are paying close attention to those individuals God has placed in our lives. Maybe the actions of others in our life is God's way of speaking to us. Discernment is a difficult skill and it can be hard to know what direction God is pointing us. That is precisely why we have to make a conscious effort to remove all elements of pride and ego from our perspective so that we can be sensitive to where God is putting an angel on the road to block our way, or opening new doors for us to serve.
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