History’s Only Talking Animal

So you think you know the Bible? You’re familiar with Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, the Exodus, and the life of Jesus. But can you locate the only talking animal in the history of the world? Sure, animals talk in fables and the tales of Uncle Remus and Disney movies. But when did an animal ever talk in real life?

Only once. Curiously, it is an entire story about talking—about blessings and curses. Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam—who knew God, but was not loyal—told Balak he could only say what God told him to say. But Balaam went with Balak.

“But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey… When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path, with a wall on either side. When the donkey saw the angel, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck her again. The angel went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. When the donkey saw the angel, she lay down; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. 

And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 

Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.” 

The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”

Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand.” Numbers 22:22-35.

When the donkey talks—the only talking animal in history—what does Balaam do? Faint? Scream? No—he engages her in conversation, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Balaam, you see, is a professional talker. Talking, even to animals, comes naturally to him. But to consider cursing Israel is to take his life in his hands, to flirt with disaster.

Consider the power of words. Balaam was hired because he had a reputation: his blessings and curses came true, because he only said the words God gave him to say. Although his heart was not obedient, he respected his prophetic gift and did not corrupt it by speaking falsely.

So why a talking donkey? Why not a dove reporting the dry land to Noah? Or lions talking to Daniel about the God who stopped them from eating him? Or a fish talking to Jonah or the disciples?

God reserved this unique miracle for this unique prophet. I think the talking donkey symbolizes Balaam. He speaks God’s blessings and curses, but he does it for a profit. His heart is not right. Some men have the heart of a lion. Balaam has the heart of a donkey. Not long after this, he draws Israel into sin, and God has Balaam killed for it. Numbers 31.

We must respect the power of words. Don’t throw curses around recklessly. The Bible is filled with warnings: be careful what you say. James 3:6 says, “the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity, it sets on fire the course of our lives and is set on fire by hell.”

Be careful what you say! God takes words seriously.

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Parable: An Old Testament Dream Sequence.

Five verses in the book of Numbers tell a story I’ve always found puzzling. Snakes? Really? I spent an hour trying to explain it in a typical, straightforward way. But in a dream, it makes sense somehow…

***

I’m a skeptical professor up late preparing for a debate about faith.  I’m reading the Gospels, pondering the crazy tale of a preacher who seems willing to die on a cross though he clearly does not deserve it.  But I’m so sleepy.  I put my head down and I’m in the desert, surrounded by this caravan of millions, this exodus of fathers, mothers, children, livestock, wagons, soldiers, trumpets, and the dust from a million sandaled feet… Suddenly everyone is screaming: Snakes!  Snakes! 

I jump on the back of a donkey and grab a couple kids to hold so no one will force me off… Men and women are dropping dead around me. Then someone screams to look to Moses and the bronze serpent on a pole.  And I watch, and everyone who looks at the pole survives. And those who refuse to look at the pole die from their snakebites. And I realize that’s me—I’m one of those people who won’t look at the pole.  What’s some statue gonna do, right?  I believe in science!

But I see people falling dead everywhere, and I’m overcome.  I grab the shoulder of a man near me:  “Look up, man!  Look at the snake!  Don’t you want to live?” He ignores my screams and dies, stubbornly resisting his only way of escape.  In my distraction, I slip off the donkey and I’m bit!  My leg is on fire!  I look for the bronze pole, but I can’t see it anywhere.  I climb up on the animal for a better look.  “God, don’t let me die! Where is the pole?”

And then I see it—only now the pole is a Cross.  And Jesus is on the cross.  And he looks at me, and I realize He is up there for ME. He wants to take my curse! “But I don’t want that!” I scream.  “I don’t want charity! I’ll take care of myself—just tell me what to do!”

I can no longer feel my legs.  My fever is suddenly so high, my eyes are blurring and everything is colorless and brown.  I’m about to pass out.  I don’t want to die!  I look up again.  I try not to, but I can’t help it! I look to Jesus and He sees me and looks at me and I see Him looking at me, and something happens, some transaction happens between us and the pain goes away and I feel better.  No, the pain does not go away, exactly—the pain goes to HIM.  He takes my curse and I am healed.

I wake up and I’m not alone. Someone is with me, and I know Who it is, and I’ll never be alone again.  And I don’t know what all this means, but I realize I’m no longer a skeptic.  Jesus is alive and He took my curse at the cross when I looked to Him for healing.

“Whenever someone was bitten and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered” Numbers 21:9.

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Snakes on a Pole.

Snakes are not high on most people’s list of beloved animals. (Imagine trying to sell a litter of baby snakes on Craigslist.) Their popularity as pets will never rival that of cats and dogs. They are not affectionate, their babies are not cute—nothing about snakes is attractive. Even non-venomous snakes are widely hated. My dad has said it a million times: “The only good snake is a dead snake.”

Considering the curse of the serpent in Genesis 3, God’s later use of snakes in Numbers 21 seems bizarre. Again (AGAIN?!!) the Hebrews complained about God: “Why have you brought us out here to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water and we detest this wretched food!” They had bitter, ungrateful hearts, and “The Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died” Numbers 21:5-7.

So there was a curse of snakes slithering through the camp of a million Israelites. What did they do? They repented and cried out to Moses. So Moses prayed and God gave him an interesting instruction:

“Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.” So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered” vv.8-9.

What in the world? A snake on a pole? Does that mean anything for us? Yes. Jesus compared Himself to the snake:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:15-16.

What could this bizarre story about real snakes and bronze snakes have to do with Jesus, the Anointed One, the Savior of the World? The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Prince of Peace? Snakes? Are you kidding me?

Here it is in a nutshell:

The Israelites were dying because of their rebellious, sinful hearts. Death came in the form of snakes. But rescue came in the form of a bronze snake raised high on a pole. If the cursed looked—BY FAITH—to that substitute serpent on the pole, they would not die from the bite of the deadly snakes. In the same way, if we who are dying from sin will look—BY FAITH—to our substitute on the pole, to Jesus, then we will not die from the curse of sin. He took the curse for us. He became sin for us—a fate worse than being a snake. As bad as snakes are, Jesus made Himself even lower, by becoming SIN for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Through Moses, God is saying: “Look here, look at this perfect man who has taken the curse of sin and death for you. Look to Him and live!”

Application: Salvation does not require special words. It is not “come into my heart and forgive my sins and save me.” Words are important, of course. And God is listening, and people should express their faith with words. But what God is really looking for is a heart of faith. Are you looking to Jesus alone for your salvation? Do you recognize that you are DYING IN SIN, and that JESUS (the dead man lifted up on a pole—the substitute who died in YOUR place) IS YOUR ONLY HOPE? Look to Him. He is your only salvation.

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Balaam. Numbers 22-24, 31.

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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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ALWAYS … Stay Humble.

Moses’s name indicates he was chosen by God from birth. He was the Deliverer.  A “beautiful” baby. Educated in the ways of Egypt. Trained in the desert 40 years. Saw the burning bush. Defeated Pharaoh with plagues. Worked numerous miracles. Parted the Red Sea. Was given the Ten Commandments. Led Israel in the wilderness. Built the Tabernacle. Spent time with God until his face radiated with such glory, no one could look at him. The only man to whom God showed Himself. Moses brought down the complete law. Wrote the first five books of the Bible. Interceded on behalf of the people and when they sinned against God. (What did Moses NOT do?)

Yet, he was not perfect. During the final years in the wilderness, Moses’s patience wore thin. Once again, the childish people were whining, blaming him for lack of food and water. Moses prayed and God told him “Speak to the rock.” Instead Moses BEAT the rock with his staff:

“And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and STRUCK the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to honor Me in front of the nation, therefore you shall not bring the children of Israel into the land which I have given.” Numbers 20:10-12.

In anger, Moses disobeyed. He did not speak to the rock, he struck it. And his words sound as if he took partial credit for the miracle. (“Must WE bring water for you from this rock?”)

God immediately did two things. He made water gush from the rock, an amazing miracle. He met the nation’s needs.  But then He told Moses he would never enter the Promised Land. He was 120 years old and everything he had ever done was leading to the Promised Land. It was the climax and fulfillment of his whole life!

But God said no. We must stay humble. We must honor God’s holiness: “To whom much is given, much is required” Luke 12:48.

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Surprise! Your Work is a Gift.

As a child, I was sometimes surprised by negative attitudes adults had about work.  First, there were the Garfield cartoons everywhere: “I hate Mondays!”  Then in the lunchroom, there was a calendar on the wall in the serving line and at the end of every day a cafeteria worker would put a huge “X” through the day.  For some reason, seeing a month with three rows of Xs seemed terribly negative to me, as if you killed the days, or burned them, or wrecked them somehow.  I was shocked thinking all the adults around me hated their jobs.

Not everyone agrees.  My friend Dwayne, a fourth-grade teacher, loves Mondays because he loves his students and can’t wait to launch a new week.  There are people who would rather “seize the day” than kill it, who truly value opportunities and challenges. 

There was even a time when I used to say things like “Every morning when my OPPORTUNITY CLOCK goes off, I jump out of bed and….”  It seemed wrong to me that we use the adjective “alarm” to modify the word “clock.” Why is it ALARMING, exactly?  Shouldn’t we be thankful to see another day? Could we be excited for the weeks to come, realizing the amazing lives God has given us? Consider the way God describes work to Aaron:

“I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift” Numbers 18:7.

Do you see work as a gift?  God can help you enjoy all your days and your labor, as promised in Ecclesiastes 5:19. Ask God to give you the gift of enjoying your work, Ecclesiastes 3:13. Give thanks in everything (1 Thess. 5:18), because it all begins with a grateful heart.

God, give us thankful hearts that see work as a GIFT! Help us look forward to mornings and Mondays and to realize every day how blessed we are to have the ability and opportunity to work. Fill us with joy and hope and help us spread that positive, optimistic light to everyone!

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What is That to You?

Jesus told Peter he would be martyred one day, and Peter said, “What about John?”

Jesus answered, “Even if John survives till My return, what is that to you? You follow Me!” John 21:18-22.

Do you get the point? What God asks of one believer has no impact on another believer. “What is that to you?,” means, “What difference does it make?” In other words—stop expecting God to make everything magically fair and equal. Heaven is where things will balance out—not Earth.

God told the Levites their tribe would always eat all the best food: 

“All the best oil, all the best wine, all the best wheat… the firstfruits… have I given thee. And whatever is first ripe in the land … shall be thine” Numbers 18:12-13.

Why did the Levites get the best of everything? Because they were the priests and when Israel’s farmers brought offerings, the offering to God had to be the best of the crops and herds. And those offerings fed the priests of the tribe of Levi and their families. Were Levites better than others? No. It was an “accident of birth” that qualified them to eat the finest of the land. 

Do you know what the Levites did not have? LAND. Eleven tribes had land, but the Levites had none. Personally, I’d rather have land than the finest food. 

You see, God has DIFFERENT plans for each of us. My brother had a great medical career at an early age and saw the world, but he had no wife or kids till 40. One of my friends has made big bucks for years, but has endured crushing personal heartaches. Another of my buddies is now a white-haired,  retired grandfather, and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m gonna’ be when I grow up! LOL. 

SUBMIT to God’s plans. They are NOT the same as His plans for your siblings or friends, but He has a great adventure for YOU! And when He blesses those around you, don’t be jealous. Remember: “What is that to you? You follow me!”

God, we trust you with our future. Lead us each day and help us trust you more!

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The Gift of Work. Numbers 18:7.

People sometimes think God cursed us by making us work. As evidence, they cite Genesis 3:17-19, wherein God tells Adam he will have to work the ground and it will give him thorns and thistles, and “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.”

However, Adam’s work was NOT part of the punishment. Adam had a job BEFORE the sin and the Fall of Man. God gave Adam work so that Adam could be a partner with God in the creative process. Adam was told to name the animals. He probably named plants, too, and took on the task of sorting and understanding them: these are fruits, these are herbs, these are mammals, these are reptiles, etc. I’m sure the work was very creative and fulfilling: part writer, part teacher, part database administrator, part museum curator.

Numbers 18:7 supports this idea. God tells Aaron:

“I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift.”

Our jobs are also gifts. God created you with talents and abilities, and it is deeply fulfilling when you can use those abilities in a positive way. God gives you the talent for a job, then He gives you a chance to do that job. That is so satisfying. Take the time to be grateful for your talents and the chance to use them. Ask God to send you the right work. And make up your mind to enjoy it and be grateful, because your work is a GIFT, not a punishment.

Dear God, give us grateful hearts that want to work and value the work you send us, no matter how humbling. Thank you for the gift of work! Help us to honor you in our work every day. Make us humble enough to scrub toilets. We want to be like Jesus who washed feet. Help us serve you by serving others. Thank you for the GIFT of work. Help us treat it like a gift! We love you.

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Moses: Man of the Wasteland. Deuteronomy 34.

I was raised in a palace by a princess.  Pharaoh was a grandfather to me.  I ate the best foods, studied with the best tutors, owned toys and tools of the highest quality.  I learned the sword and bow from the best.  I spoke multiple languages, and wrote the first five books of the Bible.

I was a man of silk sheets, good food, good books, and oil lamps to read by.  Don’t you agree that a “man of letters,” belongs in a city, sleeping near an open window letting in the desert’s cool night air?

But at 40, I killed an Egyptian and had to run.  For forty years I was a fugitive, reduced to the humble life of a shepherd. At 80, God sent me home.  I thought, “Great!  I will sleep in a bed and eat fish from the Nile.”  But the stay in Egypt was brief.  Soon I was shepherding a million people across the desert.

Still, I knew the Promised Land was coming! This boy from the palace would not die in the desert.  I would die with a roof over my head and a pillow under it!  But then the people doubted God and He sentenced us to wander the desert ANOTHER forty years.  Would I ever see another wheat field?  Or private bathroom? Or the inside of a building?

No.  The books I wrote, I wrote in tents.  I never touched a thing I loved that did not have sand on it.  Even light breezes blow sand into every crevice. How often did I crunch sand in my teeth while eating? God wanted me raised in a life of luxury.  But He did not want me to remain there. 

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward” Hebrews 11:24-26.

Sometimes God calls us away from the soft life.  How many missionaries serve God in difficult, dangerous locations?  Moses did not complain—and he did not enter the Promised Land.  He did not die with a roof over his head. 

But he died with a heart of faithfulness and gratitude toward God.  May we do the same.

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Delays.

God answers every prayer—but often the answer is not yes or no but “wait.” I don’t think anyone likes that answer. Waiting can be SO HARD.

Yet, it seems to be a huge part of our training. How long was Moses’s destiny delayed? At 40, he was moved by the plight of the Israelites, acted rashly and killed an Egyptian, and had to run for his life. Forty years passed before God spoke to him at the burning bush. Forty years! That’s a LONG WAIT. 

A few years later, Moses sent men on a recon mission to spy out the Promised Land and report back. They said the land was amazing but the people were giants and would defeat God’s chosen people.  The nation chickened out, and God was angry. He told them they would spend 40 years wandering the wilderness while the cowardly generation died off. Numbers 14:34.

Can you imagine? What a delay! (Now Moses will have to wait ANOTHER forty years—and in fact, he will see, but never enter the Promised Land.) But God used the delays to grow Moses and all His people and teach them to trust Him.

Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Do you tire of hoping for something big to happen, but it seems hopeless? I know I get tired of waiting. 

But waiting is often the exact spiritual workout that we need. Waiting on the Lord builds our FAITH. Waiting draws us closer to HIM—and knowing him better is more important than entering the Promised Land—or receiving any other promises from God.

Be patient. Seek God’s HEART, not the gifts in his hand. Ask for wisdom and patience. And take the huge step of THANKING him for the waiting times. God has a plan. Choose to trust him and be patient—after all, it probably won’t take 40 years!

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not become faint.” Isaiah 40:31.

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