And they warred against the Midianites, as Jehovah commanded Moses. And they killed all the males. And they killed the kings of Midian, besides the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
(Num 31:7-8)
The saga of Balaam son of Beor comes to a bitter end. Here he is, a man that knew the LORD, a man who spoke with the LORD and heard from the LORD, dying in the camp of the enemies of the LORD. How did this happen?
Balaam story is truly tragic, and the most tragic part of it was that it COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. Balaam had a problem, and that problem was greed. In the end Balaam’s love for money resulted in his destruction. We can look at Balaam and say, “what a wicked dude, he got what he deserved”, but in reality any one of us could become just like Balaam.
In 1st John we are told tat there are three ways we are tempted to do evil and walk away from the Lord’s will. These are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All three of these played in to Balaam’s demise. He wanted that money… The lust of the flesh. He had seen the riches that the king had to offer… The lust of the eyes. He wanted to be seen as a mighty man… The pride of life. We can boil it all down to a serious case of “I” trouble. Balaam was all about himself.
We face the same battles. The world offers us riches, satisfaction, and glory… but in the end all it delivers is destruction. Jesus said “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” – The obvious answer is NOTHING. This is a battle with the flesh that is fought every day in little ways. It comes down to our choices, “am I gonna serve the LORD, or am I gonna serve myself?”
Remember what chasing after the world did to Balaam, and choose wisely today who you will serve.
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