Dialogue With A Donkey
By Senior Pastor Dr. Bill Rains | February 11, 2024
Open your Bibles to Numbers 22:21-35. Today’s sermon, “Dialogue With A Donkey,” is the fifth in our angelic encounters series. The text says: “The ass saw the angel… I have sinned.” Let’s pray: Father, thank You for salvation and baptisms. Soften stubborn hearts, save the lost, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Balaam, hired by Moab’s king to curse Israel, rode defiantly despite God’s warning. His donkey saw the angel of the Lord blocking the path—sword drawn—and turned aside thrice, saving Balaam’s life. God opened the donkey’s mouth to reason, then Balaam’s eyes to repent. Three truths emerge.
God Allows Detours For Our Good
“The ass turned aside… unless she had turned… I had slain thee” (vv. 23, 33). God’s anger burned as Balaam went, so the angel stood as an adversary. The donkey’s detours—field, wall, collapse—thwarted doom. Detours frustrate us—lost loves, jobs, dreams—but God hems us in for our sake. Ever been mad at a delay that later proved a blessing?
We Go Defiantly Onward
“What have I done… that thou hast smitten me?” (v. 28). Balaam beat the donkey each time it stopped, ignoring warnings. “I’d kill you if I could!” he raged, blind to grace. We too lash out—at parents, preachers, pain—rejecting God’s voice. I met a man who felt the Spirit twice, decades apart, yet spurned salvation. Defiance risks all.
Sinners’ Destiny Without Christ
“I shall see him, but not now… behold him, but not nigh” (Num. 24:17). Balaam foresaw Christ’s star and scepter—yet from afar. Like the rich man in Luke 16, he’d glimpse glory but never enter. Heartbreaking! To know God’s touch, yet choose hell’s distance, scribbling “I was told so” on eternity’s walls. Will we heed or ignore?
