“POSITION WANTED—professional speaker of blessings and curses available to enhance your event or destroy your enemies. If you are launching a business, planting a vineyard, or starting a family, call me. I will bless your enterprise. PROVEN RESULTS! Check out my online reviews. I will curse your enemies! Nations fall at my words. I must say what God tells me to say, but don’t let that stop you! Contact ProfitsforaProphet.com and ask for Balaam, son of Beor, a/k/a the Mouth from the South.”
Balaam offered blessings for hire, and unlike the words of others, Balaam’s blessings and curses actually came true. God had given him a gift. When Balaam sought the Lord, God told him what to say. So when Moab’s King Balak hired Balaam, Balaam prayed and God told him not to curse Israel. But Balak (a descendant of Lot) would not accept that. So he pushed Balaam, sacrificed seven bulls on seven fires, and God gave Balaam a message. In the end, Balaam pronounced FOUR lengthy, detailed blessings over Israel (the fourth came after Balak refused to pay for the three curses, since they turned out to be blessings).
Throughout these events, Balaam acts with integrity, never speaking words other than those given to him by God. Balaam takes his gift seriously.
The problem is, Balaam is making money off his gift too and, perhaps to please his customer Balak, Balaam found another way to injure Israel: Balaam convinced Balak’s Moabite women to seduce the men of Israel and invite them to their pagan sacrifices. This resulted in punishment for Israel and the slaughter of most of the Moabites.
Balaam was also killed, see Numbers 31:8. The prophet had a gift and he handled it with integrity. But he failed to apply the same integrity to other areas of his life and he was killed for it.
God, give us the ‘wholeness’ of integrity. Teach us to be obedient in ALL of our lives, not just one area.
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