God’s Plan Versus My Agenda

“God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.” When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab. But God was incensed that Balaam was going, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand on the path to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.” (Numbers 22:20–22, HCSB)

What is going on here? It looks like Balaam is obeying God and then God is angry because Balaam is disobedient. Is God schizophrenic? No. Obviously, we are missing some information about the incident. 

“Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.” (Numbers 22:35, HCSB)

Obviously, Balaam had other plans for the trip. Balaam had his own agenda that he wanted to pursue. Therefore, God made it very clear that Balaam was to do only what God wants him to do. Sometimes, we have agendas when we say we are going to follow God. We need to resist the temptation to use God’s opportunities for our agenda. We may say we want to do what God wants us to do. But then, we privately have our own plans. What were those plans? We don’t know in Balaam’s case (but perhaps it had something to do with money. What we do know is that Balaam was hiding something because he lashed out at the donkey. People who have an agenda lash out at the weak to protect themselves. We have to learn to submit our agendas to God’s plans. 

Photo by Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash