"9 God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 11 ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”
12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”
14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us. " (Numbers 22:9-14 )New International Version.
When we were younger,we did what we were told to do ,without asking questions. For the most if we ever dared to ask why, the reply was either "Y has a long tail and two branches" or "because I said so".But these days kids do not seem satisfied with those answers and often have to be told the reason they should carry out an instruction.God in his conversation with Balaam appears to follow the current trend and not only tells Balaam not to go to curse the Israelites but he gives him the reason;"because they are blessed".End of story. However when Balaam meets his guests the next morning, he only tells them "the Lord has refused to let me go with you".He puts a period where God had put a comma.
Judging from the unspoken words of the latter conversation (Numbers 22:13-14), it appears from Balaam's reply that he is inadvertently saying "I would have loved to go with you but it is the Lord who is hindering me ".He hides from the Midianites and the Moabites' emissaries the fact that this is a"mission impossible" task as the Israelites cannot be cursed.He refused to share this knowledge with them or deliver the whole counsel of God for ulterior motives.
There may be several reasons we may allude to his actions. Firstly it might be the issue of his reputation. It was the success of his ministry that brought these dignitaries from international borders.How could he possibly explain to them that the task at hand was beyond his expertise.Secondly,it may also be in a bid of political correctness that Balaam only told the people that the Lord has refused me to come with you.At least with this answer,no one would be offended and "the Lord" left to blame that he could not go along with them.Thirdly,these men also did not come empty handed so the issue of the reward was at stake however it appears that it is the first reason that is the most influential of his decision as these emissaries actually take their leave (Numbers 22:14).
But this does not mean all of the truth should be said at once as there are times we may need to exercise discretion in speaking the truth.When Ananias was told to anoint Paul ,he did not tell him all of what he was told as Paul was just a new believer and did not have the maturity to receive it all(Acts 9 :13-17).Abigail also shows the importance of timing with truth telling (1 Samuel 25:36).
Like Balaam, sometimes in a bid to protect our reputation,we compromise with truth telling.In some instances, it is personal gain or pride that hinders us and it may very well be that in this era of political correctness,we want to be accepted and prefer to receive the applause of men rather than of God (John 12:43 ;Acts 5:29).There are definitely times we will need to say "No" in accordance with God's Word . This should be done unapologetically with a gracious spirit,without obnoxiousness(1 Peter 3:15-16) .
We have looked at yet another error of Balaam in which he failed to faithfully deliver the whole counsel of God(1 Corinthians 4:2) for ulterior motives.This is not an uncommon temptation. Whereas Balaam did not have the benefit of the written word,today we have the Bible to show us the counsel of God (Acts 20:27).All of the Bible is true and necessary for us to live a balanced life (Psalms 119:9;2 Timothy 3:16).It is therefore our responsibility to familiarize ourselves with the Word in order to deliver us from the error of knowing half truths and speaking likewise.
In His Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer.
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