Talking Donkey?

29 Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."

After being questioned by his donkey as to a recently incurred beating, Balaam answered. That’s right, he answered. He didn’t say, as I assume I would have, “What the...my donkey is talking..how the....since when do donkeys talk?” Does this reaction seem a little odd?? How often did donkeys talk during the time of Balaam? Was this a regular occurrence? “Oh hey Balak, I was talking to the donkey last week and he suggested some herbal tea to help you fall asleep.” Surely this wasn’t normal. So why did Balaam respond as if it were? The Bible gives us no indication that Balaam was startled or surprised that his donkey had just questioned him. It simply goes right on with Balaam’s response to the animal, which is harsh and angry.

How often do we respond to God’s talking donkeys in our life the same exact way? Instead of acknowledging the obvious interruption into our plans by God, we jump right past that into reacting harshly to the message. What if Balaam had said, “Why are you talking to me? What is it that is causing you to stop here in this path?” I think the donkey would have said, “There’s a huge angel with a sword right there!” Instead, Balaam threatened the donkey saying that if he’d had a sword he would kill him. Isn’t that how we respond sometimes, too? Instead of asking the important question of “Why?” we go straight to kill mode. Cut the throat of the inconvenience in order to make our path easy.

Could it be that this donkey represents how we see Jesus in our own lives? Just like the donkey, Jesus has been there serving us all the while, faithfully carrying us. He even chose to go to the cross for us. He never questioned his mission; He took the beatings that we dished out; He carries us on His shoulders through the world. When He stops in our path, when He ceases forward motion, how often do we beat Him for it? When unforeseen barriers slow our forward movement do we stop and ask Jesus why, or do we get angry, beat Him and curse Him?

Psalm 23:2 says that “He makes me lie down in green pastures...” Sometimes shepherds would have rogue sheep and they would have to make them lie down. They did this by breaking their legs or feet. The wandering sheep would have ended up food for a bear or lion otherwise. Balaam’s donkey crushed Balaam’s foot when it laid down! Sometimes God has to crush us a bit in order to get us to see His plans.

How fitting it is that Jesus was carried into Jerusalem to lay down His life on the back of a donkey!