Read
Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
Numbers 22:28
Reflect
Have you ever been so stubborn that something or someone had to make you look utterly foolish just to get your attention?
It’s happened to most of us. Sadly, by the time we figure out that we’re wrong, we’ve usually done something that we regret entirely and that reveals how foolish we can be.
Like the time I absolutely had to have a computer, way back in the Stone Age of the early 1980s. I had a little Christmas money, and I went to the toy store — yes, the toy store — to buy the Coleco Adam. This was a machine made by the people who were best known for the mass-produced Cabbage Patch dolls.
Clearly, it wasn’t a good purchase.
But I had to have it. No one could talk me out of it. And it wasn’t until I tried saving files onto a cassette tape that I figured out just what a foolish move I’d made. It cost me a couple hundred dollars that I could have saved for something worthwhile. Honestly, it was a piece of junk that never worked.
Today’s scripture is about a man named Balaam who was stubborn enough that it took a talking donkey to get his attention.
And this was thousands of years before Eddie Murphy did it in Shrek.
Balaam heads down the road with a heart that clearly is not fully lined up with God, and the Lord places an angel in the road to block his path. The donkey can see God’s messenger, but Balaam cannot, so he beats his donkey three times to keep it moving. Only when God allows the donkey to speak are Balaam’s eyes opened to the situation.
That’s the danger of stubbornness. Sometimes the thing we think is standing in our way is actually the thing God is using to keep us from going farther in the wrong direction.
What about you? When you want something, do you trust God and listen to the people who try to give you wise counsel? Or do you just go after what you want regardless of what God and others say?
Wise people pay attention to what is going on around them, and they plan their actions accordingly. Godly people pay attention to what God has to say, and they plan their actions according to His will.
This week, before you charge ahead with your plans, try lining up your calendar with wisdom, with godly counsel, and with what the Lord has already said. You might be surprised at how much better things go when you stop long enough to listen before heading down the road.
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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
