Never Just A Donkey - Numbers 22:21-33 - Church 3.0 - Brent Phillips - Encounter Houston

There are moments in our lives when we feel overwhelmed and inadequate and when the task or opportunity at hand feels like it is too much. You don’t feel sufficient enough to complete the task.

The devil knows our purpose better than we do at times and he wants to constantly make us feel like we are not enough. He will do whatever he can to try and make you shrink back and devalue yourself so that you won’t live out your God purpose.

You must remember that the greatest part about you is Jesus Christ and in your weakness He is made strong. He doesn’t care what you look like, or the education that you have, or what mistakes you’ve made. Don’t allow the enemy to devalue you. Be who God has called you to be!

Numbers 22:21-33 “So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff. Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam. “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!” “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?” “No,” Balaam admitted. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him. “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”

Being as stubborn as a donkey can be the right thing when it is for the right reasons and when we hurt for others and when we have a heart for others we are being like our Father God. There is no way to get through this Christian life without loving others and not having to take a few beatings for the sake of others. Yes, we will take some beatings, but there will be some lives that are changed and saved through it when we pull from the strength of God instead of our own.

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