DAY 61 Read Numbers 23 through 25.
Today's reading continues the remarkable story of a man who professed to be a prophet of God while he stubbornly tried to work against God's will. Such a course could lead only to a tragic end.
Memory gem: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them" (Numbers 23:21).
Thought for today:
Think of Balaam the compromising prophet. He prophesied for God and the people who worshiped Him, but he was not ready to become an out-and-out supporter either of the man who hired him or of the Lord who warned him. He tried to combine the ways of the heathen with the ways of the Lord. He was a fence walker, a balancer. He wanted the best part of both--the good and the evil.
Balaam symbolizes the so-called broad-minded--yes, the very broad-minded. Philosophically he was a syncretist. He tried to mix everything up together and make it look good. But such a thing would have meant the end of the faith of Israel, and it will mean the end of Christianity today. As someone has said, "The modern follower of Balaam has an air of urbanity." He looks very modern, very sophisticated. He is the cosmopolitan who become spiritually a jellyfish. In it all "he betrays the integrity of his own soul and the integrity of" the Christianity "religion"--Interpreter's Bible, vol. 12, p. 386.
What multitudes of people need to hear today is the call of Joshua, who said to the people of his time: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve;...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
Today's reading continues the remarkable story of a man who professed to be a prophet of God while he stubbornly tried to work against God's will. Such a course could lead only to a tragic end.
Memory gem: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them" (Numbers 23:21).
Thought for today:
Think of Balaam the compromising prophet. He prophesied for God and the people who worshiped Him, but he was not ready to become an out-and-out supporter either of the man who hired him or of the Lord who warned him. He tried to combine the ways of the heathen with the ways of the Lord. He was a fence walker, a balancer. He wanted the best part of both--the good and the evil.
Balaam symbolizes the so-called broad-minded--yes, the very broad-minded. Philosophically he was a syncretist. He tried to mix everything up together and make it look good. But such a thing would have meant the end of the faith of Israel, and it will mean the end of Christianity today. As someone has said, "The modern follower of Balaam has an air of urbanity." He looks very modern, very sophisticated. He is the cosmopolitan who become spiritually a jellyfish. In it all "he betrays the integrity of his own soul and the integrity of" the Christianity "religion"--Interpreter's Bible, vol. 12, p. 386.
What multitudes of people need to hear today is the call of Joshua, who said to the people of his time: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve;...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
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