Numbers 22:26-27

The donkey is very interesting here. Let's just say that if we look at the donkey in terms of you and me, certain things come out.

Now again the donkey proves herself wiser than Balaam.

God always does this: First He gets us in a wide place, and allows us to make our decisions. And it soon becomes very apparent which direction we're going, which path we're taking. But, then the way begins to narrow, especially if God sees us going in the wrong direction. So, He catches us in a place where we can turn around and gives us an opportunity to make a right decision.

If we don't do what He wants us to do, He'll go a little further down the path—a little bit later in our life—to catch us in a place where the answer is obvious, and we can't do anything except stop, and say, "God help me, I've gone the wrong way, I need you to open the path for me."

That's what He does to Balaam. He gets him to the point where there is only plunging on to destruction on one hand, and stopping and going exactly backwards retracing his steps out to where he can go off in the right direction.

That's where we are here. The donkey just simply lies down. That's all she can do.

Numbers 22:26-34

Notice, there was weakness. Balaam simply did not know the entire situation. He just acted carnally; that is all there was to it—the way he had been trained to think and go and do. He did not know that the Angel was blocking the way and making the donkey do what it did. What this teaches us is that sin does not always occur in a straightforward manner. We will see a little later where God, in a sense (He did not actually do this), but came close to making David sin. David did it on his own, but God was involved.

God was involved in this situation we just read, because the Angel was there and Balaam did not have any idea what was going on. He was being used to present a lesson for you and me about the way He judges. He took that into consideration. What this teaches us is that sin does not always occur in a straightforward manner, with everyone involved fully informed so as to be able to discern right and wrong.