“Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” Numbers 22:13
Now I want you to try and put yourself in Balaam’s shoes. Here you are a young man with a remarkable gift, but you are stuck in a rural town in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly one day a delegation arrives from 400 miles away, and they say, “We need to talk with you. We have heard great things about your ministry. We want to tell you about an opportunity that we think is just right for you. We know that you are not the kind of person to be influenced by money, but we have brought this check because we want you to know how much we value your services.”
Balaam is a bit overwhelmed by all of this. He takes the envelope, and sure enough, inside is the biggest check he has seen in his life. He says he needs some time to think about it, and that the visitors should stay the night.
That night God spoke to Balaam. Think about this. God spoke to Balaam as much as He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Balaam actually received the words of God. He was not a false prophet. The mark of a false prophet was that he made up his own message. He didn’t receive anything from God, and what he said was nothing more than his own hopes and dreams.
But Balaam was not like that. God spoke to him directly. He received the Word of God. And God said to Balaam “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed” (22:12, NIV). What part of this message is hard to understand? So Balaam told the delegation that he could not go.
Has God ever closed the door on a great opportunity that was presented to you?
