Numbers 22:19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.
Have you ever wanted something so badly that you just didn’t hear what people were saying and you didn’t see what was right before your eyes? Maybe you have a child who asked you for something and you said no. A day later the child comes back and asks the same question in a different way, and you say no again. They come back a third time and ask another question. After a while you realize that these are not three separate questions. It is the same question with a different angle of attack. We as adults can do that too, and oftentimes we do that with God.
As Israel was coming to the borders of Canaan, Numbers 21 ends by saying, “And they possessed the land.” That was what people knew about Israel, that they were possessing the land. There was a king, Balak, who wanted to bribe a prophet to curse Israel. This was kind of a secondary front in a war that had not yet occurred. Balak did not want to attack the children of Israel head-on, so he tried a covert warfare, bribing a prophet to curse the children of Israel.
There was a prophet, of sorts, named Balaam, whose relationship with God is one of many questions. Balak wanted to bribe Balaam to curse the children of Israel. After Balak asked Balaam to curse them, Balaam said, “I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me.” Balaam was basically saying, “I will tell you if God will allow me to do this,” which was wise.
God told Balaam, “Thou shalt not go with them; Thou shalt not go curse the people: for they are blessed.” That should have settled it, but this king really wanted want he wanted. You might know people who don’t let up, they keep asking the same question until they get the answer they want. So, the king comes back to Balaam and ups the ante. He sends more important messengers to ask Balaam to curse Israel.
Balak’s messengers said, “Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me. For I will promote thee… and I will do whatsoever thou sayest… curse me this people.” Here is where it gets interesting. Verse 18 says, “And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.”
That sounds good such as it is. But, in the next verse Balaam says, “Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.” God had already given Balaam a conclusive answer, but Balaam wanted this so he wasn’t really listening to what God was saying. There was an extent to which he heard because he said he couldn’t do what God wouldn’t allow, but he was dithering, trying to buy some time to get the answer he wanted.
God became angry at this prophet. There is much more to this story, but let me say that in II Peter 2 it says of false teachers, “Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam.” The way of Balaam, among other things, is using God’s gifts for profit. In other words, money is not wrong, but if my main goal in life is “what’s in it for me” instead of “how can I use God’s gift to serve other people,” that is a problem. God was quite provoked with Balaam.
The point is don’t ask when you know the answer. Sometimes we pray for wisdom when what we need is courage, and sometimes we pray for courage when what we need is wisdom. Both can be extremes. Sometimes we honor God by asking, “God what do you want me to do?” and sometimes we honor God by obeying what we know He has already said. I cannot make this pretense that I don’t know what God wants if I do know, nor can I forge ahead if I do not know what God has said.
Years ago, a gentleman, called me because he wanted to have the Ranch pray for him. He asked that God would give him a Proverbs 31 wife, that God would save his son, and that God would give him a good-paying job. I thought those were good things for which to pray. He went on to tell me that he had a job offer to work in a night club as a bouncer. As I listened to him talk, I realized that his conscience was telling him that he should not work in the night club. Finally, I said to this gentleman, “I’m not going to pray that God will give you wisdom. I think God has already given you that. I think you already know what you should do regarding this job offer. I’m going to pray that God will give you courage to do what you know to be right.”
Sometimes we go headlong into something before we have even asked God’s guidance. That is foolish. Sometimes we use feigned ignorance as an alibi for not doing what we know we should. Praying about something is no excuse for doing something wrong. God doesn’t want you to be pious; He wants you to do the right thing. Sometimes asking when we should be obeying is how stubbornness masquerades as submission.
Today, don’t act if you haven’t asked, and don’t ask if you already know the answer.