How Do You Beat Your Donkey?

In the book of Numbers we are introduced to a man by the name of Balaam. In the story of Balaam, he saddles up his donkey and takes off on a journey (Numbers 22:21) where the angel of the Lord puts Himself between them and there destination. This caused the donkey to steer off of the road and Balaam beat the animal back onto the road. A second time the angel of the Lord stands before them and causes the donkey to run into a wall and crush Balaam’s foot making him beat the donkey some more. A third time the angel of Lord blocked there path causing the donkey to just lay down. Needless to say Balaam began to beat her some more. Only this time the angel of the Lord allowed the donkey to speak and asked Balaam why has he beat her since he has always ridden her and never before she failed him. Only then was Balaam able to see the angel of the Lord and understand what was going on.

How can this apply to us today. Well, the bible is clear on how narrow the path is that keeps us righteous. The path in this story is our lives as we live them on a daily basis. The donkey is the vessel in which we navigate through our days. The angel of the Lord is Jesus and how He cares about us so much that He involves Himself in every aspect of our lives. When life is rough and the choices we are making aren’t working out the way we want them. It may just be the the angel of the Lord is causing our lives to be shifted along the path that He wants us on and so we don’t end up at a disastrous ending. It’s kind of like beating your face against a cement wall. Eventually the wall will win and you end up on the floor bleeding and still going a different direction.

I believe that this story is telling us in a very simple way that we should trust in the Lord with everything because He already knows everything especially what is good for us. To often we fight and try to “muscle” our way through the direction we want to go. Even if that means beating our donkeys, or ourselves, until total submission . If times are tough and things aren’t going the way we want them to. Then we need to step back, humble ourselves, and ask God what He wants us to do. Then trust Him and just do it. So ask yourself next time things are going rough. Am I just beating my donkey even though it is trying to do the right thing?