God Owes Balak

Num 22:33-23:5         12/10/2017

Balaam arrived in Moab. Balak received him with anticipation. And he wasted no time in demanding Balaam provide services. Balaam served Balak as his priest. He ministered the appropriate sacrifices before the Lord. And the Lord visited Balaam. Though standing at a distance, Balak reminded both Balaam and the Lord that he had completed the seven sacrifices as he was directed.

Balak had it in his mind that getting what he wanted was merely a matter of his willingness to pay. I know this feeling. There are few wants in this world that cannot be solved by spending some money. The world of the “subjectively satisfying” is almost entirely for sale.

I naturally want power. I want to control my field – to control my environment. I want to bend the universe in the same way that gravity is able to bend even light.

This is the modern human project.

To put all force under my feet. To put all forces under our collective feet. To put all forces under each of our individual feet. Oh what a mess we would make of the universe – were it ours to create. Even those of us who claim to know and love God play this game as though the will of God doesn’t really matter – shouldn’t really matter.

But it can’t be sustained. Every individual cannot simultaneously bend the universe – even if it was right or just to do so. We, someday, have to quite this foolishness.

My sacrifice does not make God indebted to me.

Peace and Joy – satisfying the desires of your heart comes from finding harmony with the will of God – not in trying to force my will down His throat.

Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7