S: Numbers 22-24
O: Balaam was a true prophet of God, as the Spirit of God would come upon him, and he would speak true prophecies, e.g., Numbers 24. He also said Yahweh was his God (Numbers 22:18). Yet he advised the Moabites and the portion of Midianites who opposed Israel to use girls to seduce Israelites to be unfaithful to Yahweh and worship the false god Baal of Peor (Numbers 31:16) and ended up being killed by the Israelites (Numbers 31:8).
A: Balaam’s story is a cautionary tale. God can give people genuine spiritual gifts, like the great gift of true prophecy in this case, but if they don’t keep their hearts true to God and let themselves be lured away by greed, ambition, or self-interest, they can leave the realm of God’s good plan and be destroyed.
When Balaam advised the Moabites and the faction of anti-Israel Midianites to use seductive girls to draw them into apostasy, it showed that although he did worship Yahweh with his lips, his heart had strayed from Yahweh—for where our heart is, there our treasure would be. Otherwise, how could he advise people to seduce followers of Yahweh away from Yahweh? That was very telling.
Usually, we’re not so explicit. We tend to be more subtle—slowly drifting away from prioritizing Yahweh into prioritizing our material wealth, power, etc. In a way, that’s even more insidious.
This is especially so if God has gifted someone greatly. The history of the church is littered with such examples—Jimmy Swaggart, Ravi Zacharias, etc., are all object lessons.
P: Father, search my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me. Let me be humble and repentant when you reveal that to me, and not persist in my wicked ways. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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