Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 22 verses 21 through 34:
21So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.
22 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road. 24Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. 26Then 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. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.28Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’29Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’30But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’
31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.32The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. 33The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely I would by now have killed you and let it live.’ 34Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.’
Earlier this year our house in Lubbock had been on the market 4 months with very little traffic and the month-to-month rental home we were in here in Fort Worth was growing increasingly insufficient for the longer duration. We decided we needed to get into a better and more permanent rental situation, since we didn’t want to buy a second home before our first one sold. We found a suitable rental, but the landlords wanted to get the house on the college calendar cycle so they would only rent it either for six months or for a year and a half. There was no promise that our Lubbock house was going to sell anytime soon and we realized that if we did six months we could very well be looking for another house in four months. Tired by just the thought of another move, we signed the year and a half lease. Two days after we moved in, we had not only one but two offers on our Lubbock home.
We can sit around and yell at the stars and curse the moon and kick Balaam’s donkey, but at the end of the day we really do have to accept life as it comes to us and realize that when the straightforward way is blocked it may be for some reason that we can’t see yet.
Richard Rohr says, “God comes to us disguised as our life.” Our task is to trust where our life leads us — even when it won’t go where we want.
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