What can we learn from the wayward life of Balaam?
Num 22:13 So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak's leaders, "Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you."
Num 22:18-19 Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God. (19) "Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the LORD will speak to me."
The second downward step for Balaam is in verses 18 and 19. The King sends his messengers back to him. They are more honourable and they are obviously bearing greater gifts or greater promises, because verse 18 makes reference to it. 'Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, 'though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God.' But in verse 19 He says 'And now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.' What had God said to him in the first instance? Do not go with them. What should Balaam's response have been, because God had already made it really clear what His will was?
Notice here that Balaam says 'you stay here tonight that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.' There is a little wavering here with Balaam. And this little wavering reveals what is going on in Balaam's heart because these men have come to him obviously with a really tempting offer and somehow Balaam moves off the clear direct word of God 'you shall not go' and 'you shall not curse'. Something happens here and Balaam stops and says 'this is a new group of people, maybe things have changed with God' 'You stay here tonight and I will find out if God has actually changed His mind.' But in behind it all you can see the idol in Balaam's heart is really 'what can I get?' Something has been offered to him that he can get something out of. For himself. This is his second downward step. He thought that maybe the rules had changed, but they hadn't. God's will had not changed, it was clear and direct but Balaam wanted something for himself.
2Pe 2:15-16 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; (16) but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
Peter interprets this passage with 'there is a way of Balaam and it is the wages of unrighteousness' And really all false teachers and all false prophets come in the character of Balaam. Balaam's problem was that he thought he could actually benefit out of this. He thought that God might change His mind and he can actually get something for himself. I could get wealthy; I could get honour or something king Balak was actually offering. That is the way that all false teachers work. In behind their service for God there is an amount of 'what can I get out of this'. There is an idol in their heart that either wants to get the riches, wants to earn money out of it, or get the fame or the honour, or something along those lines, and this is why Balaam in the scriptures is a warning to us. Our life and our character, and what we do for God, has to be of a pure motive and of a pure heart. Our service to God is to Him and for His glory and for nothing else. It is not about what we can get. So Balaam was looking for a way to market the gift that he had. He didn't seem to comprehend the fact that God was really testing him. He was looking for God to change His mind! Well the Lord hadn't any more to say to him, He had already given him His clear, direct will.