"What the Lord Speaks, That I Will Speak" (3/5)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 23-25.

Balak, king of Moab, feared the Israelites. He saw what they had already done to the Amorites and sought help from Balaam to curse the people. But in three attempts, Balaam blessed the Israelites each time instead of cursing them.

Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, ‘I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times! Therefore, flee to your place now. I said I would honor you greatly, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor.’

Balaam said to Balak, ‘Did I not tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying, ‘Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the Lord, either good or bad, of my own accord. What the Lord speaks, that I will speak’?” (Numbers 24:10-13).

Balaam is more known for his faults than his virtues. Yet his attitude here is commendable. He told Balak that no matter what the king offered him, he could not speak anything but what the Lord revealed to him.

We need more people today with this attitude. It is a great temptation to compromise the truth, remain silent on certain contentious issues, or teach outright error when doing so allows us to avoid suffering or persecution. The temptation becomes even greater when withholding or speaking against the truth can bring us more money, power, influence, fame, etc.

We have a divine obligation to speak “as one who is speaking the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11). We must preach “the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27) without making any changes to it (Galatians 1:6-9).

No matter what the offer, we must never compromise the truth!

Tomorrow’s reading: Numbers 26-27

[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]


Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.


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