Daily Devotions
Balaam, a Case Study in Hypocrisy
Reading for February 16th: Numbers 22-24
And Balaam said to Balak, "Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you." And he went to a bare height, and God met Balaam.
Numbers 23:3-4
The story of Balaam is one of the most fascinating and perplexing in the whole Bible! Here is a pagan prophet who is clearly motivated by money, and yet God meets with him and speaks through him some of the most glorious prophesies in all of scripture.
There is an important lesson in the story of Balaam. Being close to God is not enough. Balaam seems, at times, to be so close to the truth. He even seems to be submissive to God: "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more", "How can I curse whom God has not cursed?", "Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?" (22:18; 23:8, 12)
But Balaam is not submissive to God. He wanted to curse Israel (only God wouldn't let him - Deut 23:5; Josh 24:10). In the end the things he said about God were just words. In his heart he was still devoted to himself.
Does this describe you? Are you like Balaam, saying all the right things as a preacher, a teacher, or parent? Are you professing submission and loyalty in your heart to God, but deep down you would rather do things your own way?
Father, this story hits close to home for us! Give us the courage to look deep inside our own motives and seek to align our hearts with what we outwardly profess.
