THE LORD SPOKE (March 04)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Numbers 22-23

It can be a very real temptation. Because of the people involved, you can be tempted to not speak up. You don’t want to rock that boat so you choose your words carefully, so as not to offend. You don’t say what needs to be said. In short, you distort or you suppress the truth.

Balaam did that. He was asked to curse Israel but being a true prophet of God (see Num. 22:18), he understood clearly that he was bound to speak only the word of the Lord. But it didn’t stop him from trying something else. Money turned his head. Repeatedly he toyed with the truth, couched the content, tweaked the terms, and manipulated the message.

Balak, the man paying the bills didn’t like it. He’d ordered something much more decisive and he wasn’t getting what he wanted. Money is supposed to talk, you know.

God, the One from whom all blessings flow, just kept giving Balaam one after another to pronounce upon Israel. Money is meaningless to the Creator of heaven and earth.

Balaam, the weasel who was in it for the money, thought he was laughing all the way to the bank (Jude 11 says he “rushed for profit”). But God made an utter fool of him by means of a talking donkey. There he stood on the road arguing out loud with a jackass - even he realized how foolish he looked (Num. 22:29).

But not foolish enough to see himself for what he was. Not foolish enough to stop him from pursuing his headlong rush for profit. Not foolish enough to keep himself from being forever after the prime example of ugly greed.

They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed - an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey - a beast without speech - who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness. (II Pet. 2:13-16)

New Testament: Luke 19

“Zacchaeus was a wee, little man.” We sang it with gusto. We could see it so clearly. A short guy scurrying along with the crowd but always getting butted out until he ran ahead and found a tree. Then, wouldn’t you know it, Jesus stopped exactly in the right spot. Not only that, but He looked up and saw Zacchaeus and then invited Himself over.

It was one of the greatest dinner parties ever held in Jericho. Cleopatra never threw a better party for Anthony in her palace there. The Hasmonean palaces and swimming pools never held more joy than did the tax collector’s house. Herod the Great never dined as well as Zacchaeus did with Jesus under his roof. But some people were muttering all the while (vs. 7). How could Jesus legitimize a tax collector?

Legitimize? Hardly! Before the evening was over, Zacchaeus stood in the hall and started giving out unexpected tax returns. His “four times the amount” is probably an indication of how much he’d been gouging. Have you ever known a generous IRS guy?

Then change came with the presence of Jesus. He had said, “I [Yeshua/Jesus] must stay at your house today” (vs. 5) and then he told Zacchaeus, “Today salvation [yeshuah] has come to this house” (vs. 9). When Jesus comes in, things begin to change:

1. He sweeps out the dust and cobwebs of an ugly past. No more dark, hidden corners.
2. He throws open the windows so that brilliant light can come in. No more stagnant air.
3. He lets the neighbors sense a new and refreshing invitation to come in. No more closed doors and impenetrable little groups.
4. He makes everyone feel welcome. No more cliques and snobbish treatment.
5. He sets everything right.

He’ll do it for you too...if you’ll let Him in.