Papa B
Sometimes we are Balaam’s Donkey
If you’re not familiar with the story of Balaam and his donkey I’d encourage you to take a moment to read Numbers 22. Despite popular belief, Numbers is one of the coolest books in the bible. Briefly the story goes like this:
The people of Israel were about to attack the Moabites and the king of Moab wasn’t so keen on that happening because the Israelites seemed to be on a pretty good winning streak. So the king of Moab calls upon Balaam to call down curses on the people of Israel. The problem was that God was on Israel’s side so no amount of fussing, moaning, cursing or otherwise was going to help the Moabites and God told Balaam as much. As the story unfolds we have Balaam heading out on his donkey to meet with the king of Moab.
Num 22:23-27 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. (24) Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. (25) And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. (26) Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. (27) When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
Next two things that happen make me scratch my head in wonder. The donkey speaks to Balaam and Balaam doesn’t find that weird. Now I don’t want to get too bogged down in the story so I’ll stop there. I do, however, want to make some observations about the donkey.
- The donkey was not the main character in the story
- The donkey was beaten for doing its job
- The donkey was there to save Balaam’s life
This thought came from a conversation I had with a guy last Sunday night. He was telling me how he had fallen on hard times but things were getting better. He had been there before but he guessed he just didn’t learn the first time and that God was teaching him a lesson again. That seems to be our natural reaction when troubles come our way. “There must be something God’s trying to teach me,” but what if we are just Balaam’s donkey? What if we’re not the main character in the story and we’re in that situation to do our jobs and save someone from disaster?
What kind of father are you?
I’ve read quite a few blogs and articles about fathers raising their children. One of the scriptures that gets tossed about a lot is from Deuteronomy 6:7 and I think that’s great. I love that scripture and I have personally opined on it at great length. I think it is very important to integrate your faith into every aspect of life so that training your children in the ways of the Lord are easy and fluid, but I fear there may be more.
I ran across a scripture that totally changed my heart on training my children. I used to say, “My job is to show them Jesus and lead them to life with Him.” Sounds good, right? Very noble, quite fatherly, and very short sighted.
Take a look at the book of Judges. Look at Judges 2:10. Here is what’s going on: Joshua has led Israel in taking the promised land. He and that generation died, then their children died, then THEIR children “did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.” What’s up with that?! That would be like my grandparents landing at Plymoth Rock and I somehow missed knowing about it. Here’s my take on what happened.
The generation that took the land taught their children to obey the form of worship. That next generation performed worship without fully understanding why so what they passed on to their children was ritual without meaning and that generation opted to drop the whole mess all together.
So where does that leave me? I need to train my children to train their children. I want for my daughters to love God so much that they want their children to love God so much that they want their children to love God… I don’t want my kids to “go to church” because that’s what the family does. I want them to desire Christian fellowship. I don’t want them to tithe just because I said so, but because God is worth of their first fruits.
So, what kind of father are you?
Praising through the Fruit of the Spirit
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
I realized recently that I could be doing a better job praising my children. Since my desire is for them to develop Godly characters and seek to seek Him in all their ways, I feel that I should foster in them the manifestation of the Spirit in their lives. To that end I’m going to Praise through the Fruit of the Spirit with them.
So when I see my eldest child being loving to her little sisters I’ll say “Thank you, One Potato, for showing love for your sister.” And when my third daughter is content with what she has to play with I’ll say “Thank you, Three Potato, for being peaceful.” And when my second child doesn’t glomp on her friends at church I’ll say “Two Potato, it really makes me proud when you have self-control.”