Numbers 22:20-22

SELF-DECEPTION

‘And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do,’ etc.

Numbers 22:20

In the story of Balaam we have a seeming contradiction. God said, ‘If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them,’ and yet ‘God’s anger was kindled because he went.’ How can these things be?

I. When God sent this message to Balaam, it was not the first time that Balaam had sought an answer from God on this very subject of whether he should go or not.—Something had made him fear to go and speak the bitter curse till he had learned the pleasure of God. His wishes may well be supposed to have been all in one direction; his conscience alone restrained him. In the night came a message from God: ‘Thou shalt not go.’ But Balaam persuaded himself that what was wrong yesterday might be right to-day, and that what was God’s will at one time might not be God’s will at another. God answered the fool according to his folly, and as the wretched man had dared to think of tampering with God, God rewarded him (if we may use the word) by tampering with him. God suffered him to ‘believe a lie.’ The lie was but the reflection of the wishes that were lording it in the heart of Balaam, and to these wishes God for a time gave him over.

II. Men are doing precisely as Balaam did every day.—Temptation to self-aggrandisement of various kinds comes before us; the only condition is a course of action about the lawfulness of which we are in doubt. We look to see if for some little swerving from the rigorous path of virtue some excuse may not be found. We ask for guidance, perchance with a divided heart, and then, if God speaks to us at all, it is a voice which speaks to a conscience that has become confused and a judgment that has suffered itself to be dispirited, and though the voice may seem to be the voice of God, it is indeed only a lie.

Illustration

‘Honest men do not make loud protestations of their honesty; brave men do not insist on their bravery; over-loud proclaiming of innocence is suggestive of guilt; and the seer, by his answer, shows his mind is running on such things as silver and gold. A clever caricaturist to-day would hit off the situation by a sketch of a waiter, humbly protesting, “I can’t take it, sir,” all the while keeping his back to the notice, “No gratuities allowed.” Balaam’s answer is really equivalent to, “Very sorry, but I dare not do it”; and his request that they should tarry a night, betrays the hope that God may be got to change His purpose. “That I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.” This is the first downward step. He trifles with his plain duty. Instead of returning a decided “No,” he says he will think the matter over. But in matters of duty, second thoughts are not best; but first. “Considering a duty is often only explaining it away; deliberation is often only dishonesty.” When God speaks plainly, ours is to obey at once. Eve stood and argued when she should have shut her ears and run.’