But, I struggled to turn it down. Why? Because of the pay. Bottom line. Was I going to follow the example of Balaam, and go for the gold? Or would I obey?
Again, let me say that the analogy is not direct. Balaam was asked to do something wrong. There was nothing "wrong" with the manuscript. It was a matter of obedience, nothing more (this sentence is doing a lot of work!).
Long story short: After a bit of struggle, I said no.
I hadn't become Balaam, but I can now understand his struggle a bit better.
1 comment:
James,
Thank you for this post. It’s good that you are listening to, and obeying, the Lord! I agree: we do NOT want become like Balaam going from bad to worse and ultimately being used by the enemy and ending up in hell (Heb 10:26-27). We had to say no, because the Lord told us to, so many times to money, jobs, the praise of man, the counsel of man, the criticism of man, especially over the past 7 years of our Isa 48:10 furnace of affliction of being without a home and without a steady job. But every time we obeyed the Lord and declared His living and written Word over our lives, He QUICKLY rescued us—a couple of times within an hour of having to sleep on the streets—and He provided abundantly for us.
He showed us that trust and obedience are the only way to His blessings, healing, and restoration and the only way NOT to become mercenaries of satan like Balaam, or unwitting fools like Samson, who experienced God’s manifest glory and power but defiled it his whole life through foolish sins, until God purged him with being blinded at the end of his life.
I am praying that whatever difficulties you may have gone through in past years will become a place of restoration and pressing in to His healing presence, as He has, and is, doing for me and us—a Psalm 84 progression toward Him.
Blessings,
Gary
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