The Israelites had conquered the
Amorites and they had conquered King Og of Bashan. They were on a
winning streak and it felt good to be making some progress beyond
their wilderness existence. They camped east of the Jordan river
and King Balak of the Moabites were terrified when he saw them.
They were as many as the sand on the sea shore and he had heard
what they had done to the Amorites and King Og and he was scared
out of his wits. And the first thing he did was to run to a
sorcerer, Balaam. Balaam was famous for the fact that those people
that he blessed seemed to be blessed and people that he cursed
seemed to be cursed. And now Balak wanted Balaam to come and curse
the Israelites on his behalf in the hope that it would work. He
sent his officials to Balaam with money to try and persuade him to
come and curse the Israelites. Balaam was flattered by the offer
and told them that they should sleep over so that he can hear from
God. God did in fact appear to Balaam that night and told him not
to curse the Israelites, as He had already blessed them.
Balaam informed the officials of what God had said and they then
returned to Balak with the bad news.
But Balak didn't let that deter
him. He sent even more distinguished officials and promised even
more money if Balaam would just come and curse them. Now instead of
telling them to leave as God had already told him to, he was
flattered by the distinguished officials and the lure of money and
told them that he would ask God once again in the hope that He
would change His mind. He was in fact basically telling them that
he would try and 'twist God's arm'. Now of course God doesn't allow
anyone to 'twist His arm' on matters and He was displeased with
Balaam for allowing the lure of money to entice him to sin.
And today we must also stand strong
against the lure of money. It is so easy today to twist God's Word
to mean something totally different than what it meant to say, in
order to gain popularity and to make some money in the process too.
Many use the Bible to justify their actions. Popular opinion and
the selling of books have become a big industry for Christian
leaders too, especially in America. Unpopular, though biblical,
opinions are not voiced and not penned down in the fear of losing
wealthy members in their congregation and out of fear that their
book sales will decline. God's Word is not to be twisted. Sin is
always wrong, no matter what it is and to try and rationalize it in
order to be 'in' with popular opinions is not God's way. God's way
may not always be the popular route, in fact, it is mostly the
difficult route to take. But we shouldn't be like Balaam who sold
his soul for status and money (2 Peter 2:15). We should stay on the
right path and should take a stand for what is right.
Money and status is the name of the
game in our society today. But God is not impressed with it. What
counts for Him is what we do on this earth to promote His Kingdom.
His Kingdom will last forever and the effect we have on it now,
will last forever too. Our reward is there. We are royalties,
citizens of the new Jerusalem to come and we shouldn't jeopardize
that for the fleeting pleasures of this world.
Father please help us not to be
like Balaam. He fell for the lure of money. Help us to look past
the alluring wealth of this world towards our true treasures that
lie with You. Amen