Keys to the Kingdom
By Carolyn Tucker
My long-time friend and animal lover has pet donkeys. When he and his wife moved here from the State of Washington in 2002, the donkeys (Paco, Cupcake, Biscuit, and Bullet) came too because they were part of the family. They were meticulously transported in a tractor-trailer rig that was specially built to haul race horses. Although donkeys are generally known as “beasts of burden,” these cute and curious animals never worked a day in their life. They’ve been carefully maintenanced, faithfully fed, lavishly loved on, and provided with toys to entertain them in their pampered life on the farm.
Man is usually smarter than a donkey, but in the Old Testament, we find that Balaam is three bales dumber than his donkey. As he set off on a journey riding his donkey, “…God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff. Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. ’What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?’ it asked Balaam” (Numbers 22:22-28 NLT) .
“Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.” The angel of the Lord said, “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey” (Numbers 22:31-33 NLT).
Because of His unfailing love and mercy, God will go to great lengths to get our attention when we‘re heading in the wrong direction and acting dumber than a box of rocks. We shouldn’t be surprised that He’ll use whatever is available to get His point across. God used a meek-and-lowly talking donkey to get through Balaam’s thick skull. God’s bound and determined to get us to stop, drop, and roll in the right direction.
Wisdom comes from the one and only true God. Book smart is certainly beneficial, but it’s not enough to walk the Kingdom journey. We must honestly admit that we don’t know it all, and constantly seek God’s life-changing truths. “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you” (James 1:5 NLT). We need all the wisdom we can get and it’s available just for the asking! Christ followers simply need to acknowledge that we’re not as capable (by ourselves) as we often think we are. “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:7 NLT).
The Key: Keep your spiritual eyes and heart open to God’s wisdom and leading.