Daily Devotion | Numbers 22:21–35 | 2026 June 01

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 22:21–35 | 2026 June 01

Scripture: Numbers 22:21–35 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 June 01

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

All right, dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. We thank God for His grace. We have come to a new day, and we come again to study Daily Devotion. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 22, verses 21 to 35. Let us pray. O God, we thank You. We thank You that You are willing to show us such kindness and mercy, and that You lead us this morning into Your own Word. Lord, truly, place this watchful heart within us. Lord, do not let us follow the way of Balaam, so that our hearts would be filled with evil thoughts. Lord, have mercy on us. Show us grace, so that we may examine our own conduct and follow You on a holy path. In the name of Christ, amen. All right, let us continue to look at the story of Balaam.

Last time, this Balaam seemed to put on a very spiritual appearance. But in reality, he was completely bewitched in his heart. Because God had already spoken very clearly: He told him not to go, and also that he must not curse this people. Verse 12 says this very clearly, because that people is blessed. But later, when Balak brought more silver and gold, Balaam’s heart was moved again. It was as if he was thinking, “Should I go or not? All right, let me ask God again.” In fact, this was a kind of shifting of responsibility. He wanted to push all the responsibility for not being able to obtain glory, wealth, and riches onto God. “O God, it is You who are stopping me from becoming rich. O God, it is You who are stopping me from doing this thing.” He wanted to push this responsibility onto God. But in reality, God had already warned him long before.

So I said that the turning point of this matter is actually not later. It is not later. It is earlier. That is, when he came the second time to inquire of God, God’s will had in fact already been determined. That is verse 20: “And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, ‘If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them.’” In reality, when he came the second time to inquire of God, God had already given him over. Even so, in today’s passage, God still comes to stop Balaam, hoping that Balaam may repent. But Balaam remains completely bewitched in his heart. He is determined, absolutely determined, to walk his own way. This is what we are going to share today.

All right, Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with them. Verse 22 says, “But God’s anger was kindled because he went.” When many people read this passage, they do not understand it. “God, why are You angry? Wasn’t Balaam very good before? Didn’t he ask You every time? Why are You angry now?” I have already explained the reason before, so I will not repeat it again. All right, God once again comes to rescue Balaam. The angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him, to stop him. He was riding on his donkey, and two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. In this event, God is reminding Balaam: “Balaam, go back.” And the donkey is rescuing Balaam.

So Balaam is completely in a state of being protected. There is the angel stopping him, and there is the donkey protecting him. God lets the donkey see the angel, but Balaam beats the donkey in order to turn her back onto the road. So here we see the image of Balaam. He is completely a person whose heart has only money in it, you understand? No matter how God reminds him, it seems that he cannot turn back. He has already been completely captivated by Balak’s wealth. What he does is exceedingly foolish. If he had been even slightly watchful, right, when God first said that he could not go, he should have immediately known, “Do not touch this thing.” But after he saw the silver and gold, he still came to ask again. This matter was already very absurd.

All right, by today, if you are on the road—although you have not seen the angel—but you see this donkey swaying back and forth, then you should think, “Ah, this thing is unusual. Surely God is stopping me. I cannot keep going.” Right? It has already reached this point, so you should be watchful, shouldn’t you? But he is still not watchful, right? God is protecting him, and the donkey is protecting him, but he still wants to beat the donkey, continue to turn back onto the road, and continue walking onto that erroneous road. You see, this shows—I am also reflecting on this—that sometimes, when there is only one thing in our hearts, do we really appear so foolish? God has already reminded us through our circumstances, yet we are still like this. I think this is something that we need to use to remind ourselves.

That is, when there is only one goal in our hearts, for example, “I want to work, I want to make money,” but in reality God has already given us many signs: “Do not go any farther.” Yet we are completely insensitive, completely insensitive. We do not think about what God’s will actually is, and we do not look at the Bible, at God’s Word. I think this is a very great reminder to us. It is our insensitivity toward circumstances, our insensitivity toward circumstances. Sometimes God speaks through circumstances. Of course, we cannot accurately say what God means in every single circumstance. We cannot say that. But I think this mistake is reminding us that in fact God has mercy and grace.

As for this Balaam, God had already said, “If they call you to go, then go.” But at this time God still cannot bear to let Balaam go on like this, because after all, this is someone who had once followed Him. So on the next day, God still continues to stop Balaam, right? He still tells him to go back. The angel has drawn the sword, and the donkey wants to save him. But Balaam simply does not care about this matter at all. He just rushes straight ahead.

Then the angel stood again in the narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed close to the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall, and Balaam struck the donkey again. This is the second reminder, clearer than the previous one, each time clearer than the last. At the beginning, he simply saw that the donkey—ah, why did she walk into the field? That was one reminder. Now the donkey has already crushed his foot, and Balaam still wants to go. His leg is injured, and Balaam still wants to go. So I think this is truly foolish. Balaam should have been an intelligent person. From a human perspective, he certainly was not a stupid man. But have you noticed this? When a person is filled with a desire, and his heart is only thinking about one thing, his intelligence will definitely decrease. Such an obvious thing, and yet he is completely unable to see it.

This donkey stops him the second time, and he still beats the donkey. What is he doing? He still wants to go onto that erroneous road, to rush straight onto that path of error. All right, God protects him a third time. 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. Then the donkey, seeing the angel of the LORD, lay down under Balaam. She simply lay down and would not move. Is this not even clearer? As for Balaam, these three times are like this: the first time, Balaam beats the donkey to turn her back onto the road; the second time, Balaam beats the donkey again; the third time, Balaam becomes angry and beats the donkey with his staff. So in these three protections from God, did God stop Balaam or not? He had already stopped him. But Balaam seems to insist that he must hear God say, “I am telling you, you must not go,” and only then will he not go.

But in reality, even when God says, “You must not go,” Balaam’s heart still wants to go, right? “God, You are stopping me.” So what is this like? It is like a child who insists on doing something bad. His parents stop him: “Do not do it.” On the surface, he says, “No, wherever you tell me to sit, I will sit there.” But his heart is fixed on getting that bad thing, fixed on doing that bad thing. For such people, God rejects them.

Of course, God rejected Balaam from the very beginning. From the theological perspective, that is certainly true. But from the perspective of the actual situation, did God save Balaam? God did save him. In the dream, when Balaam asked the first time, God had already warned him, right? The second time, God said, “If they call you, then go, but only say what I say.” This was also a warning; it is just that Balaam did not understand it at all. On this road, on this very day, God stopped him three times. God wanted to save Balaam, and the donkey wanted to save Balaam. But Balaam had only this one thing in his heart, so he paid no attention at all to the reminders from the things around him. This is the most foolish part of Balaam.

I think the reflection for us is this: do we also encounter this kind of condition in life? Sometimes, when our hearts are filled with an evil thing, filled with desire, we appear to have very low intelligence. We completely ignore the reactions around us. People around us have already reminded us. The Bible has already spoken. The pastor’s preaching has already told us. The mediator has already told us. But we still have not—we still insist on rushing straight forward. I think this is something about which we truly need to be especially watchful. We also ask God to give us a heart of reflection, so that we may see what things in our lives are displeasing to God. I think Balaam is a very good example for us.

All right, then God made the donkey open her mouth. So there is irony throughout this passage. Balaam and the donkey form a comparison. Balaam had once received God’s blessing, spoken God’s words, and caused others to receive blessing and to be cursed. But Balaam treated all of this as if it were his own. Now God makes a donkey open its mouth. So this is reminding Balaam: “Actually, this is not your ability. I can make even a donkey open its mouth and speak.” Therefore, this is actually a humiliation to Balaam.

In the Bible, there are two occasions where animals speak to people. One is in the garden of Eden, where the serpent speaks to Adam and Eve. The other is here, where the donkey speaks to Balaam. The purposes are both reminders. The first time, the serpent was tempting. The second time, God uses this donkey to remind this false prophet. The donkey says, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam says, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” The donkey says to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to do so to you?” He says, “No.”

In fact, at this point, Balaam in verse 30 should have immediately repented. “Yes, right? First, the donkey has spoken to me. This is something completely extraordinary. This donkey has never done anything like this before. There must be something going on. Ah, this trip of mine must be displeasing to God, so I must quickly repent.” So I still say that with regard to God’s reminders, sometimes when we are on a wrong path, God sets up many small thresholds to remind us. He reminds us little by little, little by little. If we have even a little spirituality within us, if we are truly able to magnify the Lord in our hearts, then even though the prompting of the Holy Spirit may be very weak, it will still let us know: “We must not do this thing. We have to go back.”

But look at Balaam. He has absolutely no intention of repenting. His heart is completely filled with Balak’s silver and gold, so he still wants to rush forward. At this time the LORD opens Balaam’s eyes. He sees the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand, and Balaam bows down and falls on his face. God first lets the donkey see the angel, and then He lets Balaam see him. So the comparison between Balaam and the donkey, I think, is very clear in this story. Of course, this is a fact, not merely a story. In this historical event recorded in this passage, the contrast is extremely clear.

This Balaam is even more stubborn than this donkey. The donkey still knows to turn back. The donkey still knows to submit. But Balaam is not even as good as the donkey. This is what this story tells us. Then, the angel of the LORD says to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.” At this moment Balaam should have trembled all over and repented immediately. But he does not. “Because your way is perverse before me.” The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If the donkey had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you and let her live. In God’s eyes, Balaam is not even as good as a donkey.

Then what does Balaam say? Balaam says to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” My goodness, how else do you want God to stop you?

So I think when we read the story of Balaam, if we read chapter 22 as ordinary readers who have not been trained, then by the end—especially when you see what Balaam says to Balak, which we will talk about tomorrow—you may think that his words are very spiritual, right? “Whatever the LORD tells me, that I will speak. I cannot go beyond the command of the LORD.” You may even have an illusion, thinking, “Did God perhaps misunderstand Balaam? God, could You not simply say one sentence? Would it not be enough just to tell Balaam not to go? It seems as if You do not love Balaam at all.” No, that is not the case. God does not say that sentence directly. Instead, God continually reminds Balaam through small things.

We can say it this way: if God had said, “Balaam, do not go. You absolutely must not go anymore. If you go again, I will be displeased,” then after God had really said that, would Balaam definitely not have gone? I think it is actually quite possible that Balaam would not have gone. But God is not pleased with that kind of thing. Why? Because God knows that although He may have stopped your behavior, your heart is still turned toward that silver and gold. Since your heart is turned toward silver and gold, I have already set up small thresholds to remind you. In fact, they are not small thresholds anymore; they are great thresholds. Such a great obstruction has been set before you to remind you. The sword has already been drawn. The point is: I am not killing you right now. What more are you going to do? And he still asks, “If You do not like me going, then I will turn back.” How else does God have to show that He is displeased with him going?

So I think this is—how should I put it? I think this is a place that must cause us to be alert in the process of God’s interaction with us. In fact, God has already reminded us in many places. God has not said it plainly? For example, when I go to give or receive bribes, God has not openly stopped me and said to me, “You must not give or receive bribes.” How else do you want God to say it? Or suppose I say, “On the Lord’s Day I will not come to worship, I will not commit myself to the church, I want to do business.” And then I say, “God, You also did not tell me not to go.” Every sermon, every Daily Devotion, has already spoken very clearly. What more do you want? How do you want God to say it? Right? The commandments have been given to you. The law has been given to you. Everything has already been told to you. And you still say, “God, You must speak to me directly and say that I cannot go, that I cannot give or receive bribes, that I cannot envy others, that I cannot hate others.” What else do you want God to say? God simply does not say it anymore, because since you have already made up your mind to walk this road, God lets you walk it.

What we are grateful for is this: thanks be to the Lord, we saints are forever preserved. If we are truly God’s children, God will use His own way to remind us and finally to discipline us. But for those who are rejected, I think this model is a model that we especially need to be alert to. That is, when God interacts with Balaam, Balaam never says, “You are telling me not to go.” On the contrary, later God repeatedly says, all the way to verse 35, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” God says, “You go.” And verse 20 also says the same thing: “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them. But only do what I tell you.” The words God speaks are all telling him to go, but God’s will is all telling him not to go. God’s actions are all telling him not to go. I think we need to be watchful.

Of course, in life, God also will not say, “Then go and do this evil thing.” But it may seem as if He has not stopped you from doing this evil thing. It may even seem that you are doing it quite smoothly. But in reality, God’s anger is already upon us. What is our heart filled with? Brothers and sisters, it is in this matter that we appear to have especially low intelligence. God has already been reminding us continually. We have met with obstacles. Our leg has been struck. Certain situations have appeared in our lives. In fact, some of these may be God’s small signals, reminding you not to do this thing anymore, but to repent. I think in the process of my own interaction with God, when I have something, when I do something wrong, God usually disciplines me. This is very real.

Every time I am disciplined, of course it is painful. But I also confess my sins to God and pray, asking God to have mercy on me. God has not spoken to me and said directly, “You definitely did wrong.” But these things, I think, reveal His displeasure toward me. We must be sensitive to this kind of leading. Of course, with this kind of sensitivity, we also need to be careful sometimes. We must not fall into the kind of charismatic approach where it is as if we become frightened at every sound, reacting to every little noise, treating every movement of grass and trees as if soldiers were coming. We should not be like that either. But neither can you be completely insensitive.

God continually reminds us through circumstances. When something meets with very great obstruction, we must think about what God’s will actually is. Because God is the God who never changes. The way He dealt with Balaam is also the way He will deal with us. What He says here is all telling Balaam to go, but His actions are all stopping him. Today, these actions are stopping him so clearly, three times, right? You have encountered something very unusual. The donkey first takes a detour, then crushes your foot, and then lies down. At this time Balaam should have repented. The first time, when the donkey turned aside, in fact, if he had gone back then, it would still have been good. The second time, when his foot was crushed, he should have said, “Ah, no, I have to go back.” The third time, when the donkey lay down, he should have said, “I have to go back. I cannot go any farther. Such a great obstruction has come.”

But Balaam becomes angry and beats the donkey. Even when the donkey opens its mouth, he still does not wake up. Even when he sees the sword of the LORD, he still does not wake up. He still says, “If You do not like me going, then I will turn back.” How else do you want God to express His displeasure? So may God have mercy on us. This is a warning. When our hearts are filled with the world, we often walk in the way of Balaam. God has already reminded us. We have already strayed far from the way of God.

Our daily Bible reading, our Daily Devotion, our weekly worship, Bible study, and prayer—are we within God’s will in these things? We often say, and we also say this in preaching, that this is a faith that stands at the gate of heaven and hell, right? Think about it: what can enter, and what cannot enter? What should you do? The rules for the college entrance examination have already changed. The answer sheet for the examination of your life has already changed. You clearly know that there is this examination. You clearly know that this is what the examination will test. And yet you still do not prepare seriously. Is that not foolish? You still go and prove, “I earned hundreds of thousands of yuan.” Do you see? Is this not foolish? So I think this is truly something we need to consider.

The example of Balaam is truly a very, very good reminder for us. It lets us see how a person filled with desire rushes straight down the path of error. “My heart is my business. My business is important. Ah, the Lord’s Day worship—let me put this matter aside, put it off until later.” In fact, you have completely misunderstood. If you do not put God first, if you are not willing to worship God properly, if you do not truly put God’s Word first—leaving aside your business for the moment—if God loves you and therefore makes your business go badly, that is still His love for you. If your business is truly going very well, then you need to be extremely careful. What meaning does it have? It has no meaning at all. You must remember this point. Human success, human—these things have no meaning.

Balaam’s heart was filled with Balak’s silver and gold, and so he appeared extremely foolish, as if mentally weak, incapable, completely losing his judgment. May God have mercy on us, so that we would not follow Balaam in this error of Balaam. We need to think about what things are truly filling our hearts. If it is Balak’s silver and gold, then we really need to repent immediately. Otherwise, we are truly walking on the way of Balaam. All right, may God lead us in this story to find the places where we need to repent. All right, today’s sharing will simply end here. Thank you, everyone.