2 Peter 2:13 – 16 “They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”
WHEW! Peter is really worked up! Why? Peter was writing to people who had gotten saved out of all kinds of sin and immorality. There is nothing new under the sun, and the sins we see today were all practiced in Peter’s day. Evidently, there were Christ followers who had gotten delivered from terrible practices, only to be enticed back into the same things or worse by their old friends.
One of the requirements for anyone entering a treatment program for alcohol, drugs, or other obsessive behaviors is to attend 90 meetings in 90 days. Why is the 90 day rule important? Studies have shown that the first 90 days of recovery are the most important for preventing relapse. Research published in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors found that the risk for relapse was at the highest rate during the first three months. A second requrirement, at least with Alcoholics Anonymous, is that each recovering alcoholic have a sponsor, someone they can call on when they are having a rough time and are tempted to take a drink. These sponsors are people who are recovering alcoholics themselves, so they understand the temptations. Repentance means to make a total change in direction; otherwise, a person can fall back into the same sins or even worse.
Now, who was Balaam and why was Peter referring to him and what’s with the reference to the donkey? The story is found in Numbers 22 -24. By this point, the Children of Israel had left Egypt and were now on the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho. Balak, the King of Moab, was terrified of the way the Israelites had already destroyed other powerful nations, and he decided to enlist spiritual help.
Balak sent a delegation to Balaam, who had a reputation for divination and for successfully blessing and cursing people. Even though Balaam was obviously a pagan, he still had conversations with God, and that night God told Balaam to leave the Israelites alone because He had already blessed them. The King of Moab kept sending delegations making to Balaam, promising incredible wealth. Finally, Balaam agreed to travel to Moab, but God was angry because He had already told Balaam not to go. (God actually told Balaam he could go but Balaam was to strictly follow God’s orders.)
As Balaam was riding his donkey, the angel of the Lord confronted them three times. The donkey could see the angel but Balaam could not. Finally when the donkey laid down and refused to go any further, Balaam beat the donkey. At that point, God allowed the donkey to speak and the donkey asked Balaam why Balaam was beating him, since the donkey had never failed to obey Balaam before. Suddenly Balaam saw the angel, who warned him to ONLY speak what God wanted him to.
Balaam pronounced blessings over the Israelites but later got the local women to involve them in orgies of sex and drinking. Obviously, these actions were NOT what God had told Balaam to do, and ultimately, Balaam was killed for his disobedience.
Balaam’s story has several morals. 1. When God tells you to stay home, stay home! If Balaam had stayed home, he would have lived a lot longer. 2. God will do anything necessary to get someone’s attention, even allowing a donkey to speak. 3. Don’t make an ass of yourself! Listen to God!
PRAYER: Father God, please help us to follow hard after you all the days of our lives. Help us to have humble hearts and to obey you and not to argue with you. Give us fellow believers who will help encourage us as we also encourage them. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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