But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. – Numbers 22:22
I know, I know. What’s Balaam doing here in the midst of all of these Godly men and women of scripture?
But Balaam has a very important lesson to teach us. Several in fact, but we’ll stick with the one.
God uses imperfect people. Not really surprising, since His audience is a bunch of imperfect people. And Jesus was, after all, the only perfect man ever to live on this earth.
Balaam, he was about as imperfect as they come. A foreigner with a greedy and pompous heart, and a medium to boot. Peter tells us that following in this man’s footsteps is a sure way to know you are doing wrong.
They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. – 2 Peter 2:15
But God still used Him. Not for Balaam’s sake but for His own sake, for the sake of His remnant, and maybe even for the sake of some of those Gentiles who needed to see and hear of the Living God. They were imperfect people, so very imperfect.
Photo by doggystaves 
Were it not for Balaam’s donkey, Balaam would have met His maker long before being able to be a vessel who spoke for Him. Let’s face it… that animal spoke more wisdom on that trail than Balaam likely ever did in his poor miserable life.
Except for the time that God placed words on his imperfect tongue.
There are those like Him, even today.
Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. – Philippians 1:15-18
We can choose to preach Christ willingly, joyfully even, or we can find one day that we have His words on our tongue, and Christ is being proclaimed despite us.
Either way, the only way to correct our imperfections is to turn to Him.
For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. – Hebrews 10:14
Let’s Go Deeper:
1. What kind of imperfections do you struggle with?
2. How do they keep you from speaking for Him?
3. Write here a verse that helps you to remember that He uses imperfect people.
4. What is one thing you can do, today, to boldly proclaim Christ’s love in someone’s life?
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May God Bless You,
Shelly
Psalm 19:14…it just came to my thoughts right now!! I love it when the Holy Spirit does that. What you said is what I needed to hear, and Jesus followed up with His encouragement also. Love you?
“May the words on my lips and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, oh Lord”