Thought for the Day – Friday 5th June
Yes, it IS Friday again! So why not have a talking donkey with a very simple message!!
‘So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled
his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab. God’s anger was kindled
because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as
his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with
him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn
sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field;
and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. Then the angel of
the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either
side. When the
donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall,
and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. Then the
angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no
way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel
of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he
struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey,
and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these
three times?” Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I
wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” But the donkey said
to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this
day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” And he said, “No.” Then
the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing
in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on
his face. The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey
these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is
perverse before me. The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three
times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed
you and let it live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have
sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now
therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.” The angel of the
Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to
speak.”’ (Numbers 22: 21-35)
When I read this passage I am often reminded of the talking donkey in
the Shrek series of films – you may remember we looked as some of these in our
Evening Celebrations a few years ago. Actually I think Balaam’s donkey must
have been the inspiration for the writers of that film and the part of ‘Donkey’
for there are a great many similarities in their stories. For each time
‘Donkey’ is put down or ignored or Shrek says something unkind to him, he
doggedly continues on his path, he doesn’t let Shrek ignore him and he talks
non-stop offering wise words of wisdom to Shrek – even though Shrek finds him
annoying. He is also one of the funnier characters and often his words have the
effect of breaking up tense atmospheres in the story.
As
I said earlier, Balaam’s donkey has a simple message for us really – we are to be
open to God, we are to listen for God’s voice, we are to heed the path God
wishes us to take and keep to that path.
The
donkey being open to the Lord and seeing that angel of the Lord on the path
barring their way knew what it was doing and it was trying to put his master
back on the right track, each time he was trying to stop him from disobeying
God and God’s wishes. Even when mistreated he still worked to bring his master
back to God’s way. Even when his master seemed to forget how loyally he had served
him over the years and how he had never behaved in such a way before with him
he still tried to get his master back on God’s way.
We may not see an angel of the Lord standing barring our way preventing
us from going along a certain path, we may not have a talking donkey trying to
keep us on the right path but we do have God’s Spirit within us and a
conscience and if we are open to God then we will know the paths he wishes us
to take and not be swayed into taking any other path but his!
Prayer
Loving Lord,
Too easily our eyes are drawn away from you and we go our own way,
ignoring yours. Lord, lift our eyes to you that we might see the signs of your
life among us and your touch of healing on our souls. Lift our eyes to you that
our hearts may be filled with faith, hope and love. Lift our eyes to you that
our very souls might listen for your voice guiding our way. In Jesus’ name we
pray. Amen
Friday Fun Time:
I was talking a few weeks ago about this being like a time of firsts so
here are your five questions for today all about firsts – I am sure you could
add a few questions of your own too!
1. Who or what was your first love?
2. With whom did you share your first kiss?
3. Where was your first holiday spent?
4. What do you remember of your first job?
5. When was your first time travelling alone and to where?
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