EVENING
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/04/2025 8:51 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“Cain”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jude 11b
Message of the verse: “and for pay they had rushed headlong into the
error of Balaam.”
Let me just say that I have been
trying to just look at these apostates that Jude mentions one man at a time,
and because of that this SD will be extremely short as we look at Balaam, the
man who had his female donkey talk to him and when you read about it in Number’s
22. I truly like this story because for
one thing when his donkey was talking to him he just talked back to it like he
had heard her talk to him before. I will
look for that part of the story and quote it to you.
22
But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the LORD took his
stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey
and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the
LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned
off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn
her back into the way. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path of
the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25 When
the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed herself to the wall and
pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck her again. 26 The angel of
the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to
turn to the right hand or the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the
LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with
his stick. 28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to
Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three
times?" 29 Then Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have made a
mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by
now." 30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which
you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so
to you?" And he said, "No." 31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of
Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword
in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground. 32 The angel of the LORD
said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I
have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me. 33 “But the
donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned
aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live.’”
I
guess I just made this SD a little longer than I thought I would, but I really
like this story and wanted to share it with you.
Now I will quote what John MacArthur
wrote in his commentary on Jude as he wrote about Balaam: “Here Jude unmasks the fundamental motive
behind the religious interests of false teachers: They do so for pay (cf. Ps. 10:3; Mic. 3:11; 1 Tim. 6:10; 2 Peter 2:3). Unlike God’s true shepherds (cf. 1 Tim. 3:3;
Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 5:2), these ministry mercenaries follow in the error of Balaam, rushing headlong into envy and greed.
“Numbers
22-24 relates the story of Balaam, with some additional references occurring in
chapter 31. Balak, king of Moab, hired
Balaam to curse Israel. So Balaam
devised a plan by which he would lure Israel into idolatry and immorality—and ultimately
God’s judgment. But God used an angel
along with Balaam’s own donkey to prevent him from carrying out his plan…As a
prophet-for-hire, Balaam is a prime illustration of false teachers—those who
love wealth and prestige more than faithfulness and obedience (cf. Rev.
2:14). “‘But I have a few things against you,
because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching
Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.”
8/4/2025 9:12 PM
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