God's True Prophet

Numbers 22:18 Balaam answered Balak’s servants: “Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn’t be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little.”

Balaam is a prophet. He is a foreigner, not one of the tribes of Israel, but still a prophet, a prophet of the same One True Living God that Israel worships and that has brought her out of bondage from Egypt. No matter how much money you throw at him, he will only speak what God tells him; he is a man of true and profound integrity. We don’t see many like him in any time period, and people such as this are especially lacking, it seems, in the political arena.

I don’t know about you, but I am deeply humbled by this image of someone who follows God’s call so unswervingly. I have been lured off God’s path by so many temptations– by money, a desire to get along and avoid conflict, or just to get what I want – that I feel totally inadequate, undeserving of even calling myself a God-follower in the face of this level of commitment.

Balak, the king of Moab, has called on Balaam to curse the People of Israel because he fears their strength, but all Balaam can do is bless them. And I guess that’s a message I take, too. I may not be a prophet on the order of Balaam, but I am trying to speak the truth that God brings me, in the hope of being a blessing to others, and I think God honors that, and even loves it, as a parent loves a child’s indecipherable scrawl on a blank page and calls it art.

Prayer: Dear God, I see the integrity you inspired in your servant Balaam, and I know I can’t hope to attain his power. I offer you what gifts I have, and the truth and love of Your Presence which guides me and which I am hoping to make known to those who don’t know you yet, or don’t yet know you well. I ask your blessing on my work, that through me others may gain a glimpse of your Divine Presence. Amen.