Daily Devotion | Numbers 22:36–41 | 2026 June 02

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 22:36–41 | 2026 June 02

Scripture: Numbers 22:36–41 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 June 02

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

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

All right, peace to all the dear brothers and sisters. We thank God for His grace. We have come to a new day, to study Daily Devotion. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 22, verses 36 to 41. Let us pray. O God, we thank You. We thank You that You are willing to show us such kindness and mercy, so that we may see clearly Balaam’s true face, and also, through the mirror of Balaam, that You would shine light upon the true face within us. Lord, let us see the corruption of our human nature, so that we may quickly repent and turn back to You. Lord, may You cause us to cast away this kind of worldly deceitfulness. Instead, let us simply follow You alone, and be people who truly obey. In Christ’s name, amen.

All right, today we come to the last section of Numbers chapter 22, speaking about the story of Balaam, and how he came over. Earlier, yesterday, we mentioned that God, with His mouth, said, “Go with them,” but through His actual actions, He was constantly hindering, constantly rescuing. God also hoped that through such actions Balaam would repent. But Balaam was determined not to change, so God gave him over and let him go. So at this point, Balaam is going to become a tool for blessing Israel.

In fact, God had all along been causing Balaam to avoid this kind of embarrassing situation. Balak invited him. Balak had his purpose. He gave money, and he wanted Balaam to listen to him. He wanted Balaam to listen to Balak’s words. God said, “If you go, you must say what I say.” The reason God did not want Balaam to go was because God knew that, if he did this, Balaam would be trapped in this unrighteousness, right? You go, and then you bless the Israelites, and you do not meet Balak’s demand, right? Wouldn’t you yourself then be in a very awkward position? But Balaam’s heart was filled only with money. He wanted to go, and so God let him go.

All right, at the beginning of this part, it is Balak who speaks. Balak has come to the city and is being received. Look at the way Balak speaks. “Did I not earnestly send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” These rhetorical questions show Balak’s arrogant and overbearing attitude. He has won. He has spent money, right? Since he spent money, you have to come. You have to listen to his command. Right? What do you mean? Am I not able to give you honor? Right? I even sent someone. I even had to send people twice. Isn’t this humiliating me? Ha ha. This is Balak’s attitude.

What does Balaam say? Balaam says, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” So here, we again see Balaam’s deceitfulness. Why do we say Balaam is deceitful? Many people, when they read this passage, feel, “Look, Balaam has always been very spiritual, right? Whatever word it is, he first asks God. Whatever word it is, he is always saying, ‘Whatever God says, whatever word is put into my mouth, I will speak.’ Isn’t this a very good prophet? Then how is he a bad prophet?” Many people do not understand. But actually, all the calculations here are in his heart.

Did Balaam know what Balak invited him to do? He knew very clearly, right? In chapter 22, verse 6, this is what Balak’s messengers said, right? “For this people is too mighty for me. Come now, curse this people for me.” So Balak’s meaning was: you must come and curse them for me. What am I spending money to invite you here for? I am inviting you to curse. Then what is Balaam doing? He wants to use the ability that God once gave him to obtain this money and wealth. This is all the thought in Balaam’s heart.

But Balaam also knows that if God does not give him the word, if God does not speak, then he cannot say anything either, because he cannot cross beyond God’s boundary. This, he still knows. So the meaning of what he says here is to stop Balak’s mouth concerning whatever happens afterward. Therefore in chapter 23, this move of his takes effect, right? In chapter 23, every time he says, “Did I not tell you?” Right? “Whatever the LORD says, that I must speak.” The purpose of laying down this groundwork for himself in advance is what? It is to keep himself from embarrassment. So yesterday we spoke about Balaam’s foolishness. Today we will talk about Balaam’s cleverness.

This Balaam is a very clever person. In terms of how to conduct himself among men, in every aspect, he really handles everything thoroughly and carefully. First, toward God, right? He does it very well. “God, if You do not let me go, I will not go. If You do not speak, and You tell me to go, then I go.” To whom does he shift the responsibility? He shifts it to God, right? God constantly uses signs, right? He uses methods to stop you. Balaam does not care about that. Anyway, in the end, God, You did not say, “Do not come.” Whose responsibility is it? The responsibility is God’s. All right, toward God, he shifts responsibility.

Then when he comes to Balak, he also plays this same trick of shifting responsibility, right? “Balak, you called me here, right? I have now already come. But I have to make this clear to you: I cannot speak anything on my own. Whatever God tells me to say, that is what I will say.” So it is always someone else’s responsibility.

So yesterday, Balaam’s foolishness, his foolishness before God, was that he was even more foolish than a donkey. Today, it becomes that before men, Balaam is as shrewd as a fox. He even wants to play this little clever trick before God, right? “God, You did not say it, right? You did not say it. Although You stopped me, You did not say You would not let me come. You said I could come.” All right, in the end, if anything happens, God, the responsibility is on God, in God’s place. Now with Balak it is the same. “Balak, right? You invited me. You were the one who invited me. I did not come on my own. You invited me to come. But I have to make it clear to you: the words are whatever God lets me say, only then can I say them. It is not whatever you want me to say, then I say it.” All right, the responsibility is pushed onto Balak. As for Balaam himself? Balaam himself has no responsibility at all. “Whatever I do, it is all your business. Why am I here? Balaam—this Balak invited me. It was you who stopped me, so I am here.” But actually, inside this is entirely deceitfulness. Why? He knows very clearly what he is coming to do. He also knows very clearly what Balak wants him to come to do. He also knows very clearly what God wants him to come to do.

What was God’s purpose in not letting him come? Actually, Balaam is very clear in his heart. But at this time Balaam is completely filled with silver and gold. What he wants is Balak’s silver and gold. And he wants it very skillfully, right? “Eh, you invited me to come.” So you can compare this with life and see whether there are people like Balaam. That is, in every aspect, they take care of everything. In dealing with people, they deal with things very delicately. Nothing can be blamed on them. They have already arranged the responsibility long ago. They have shifted the responsibility away completely. But the benefit, they want to get it.

So what is Balaam thinking? Brothers and sisters, have you ever thought about it? What is Balaam thinking? Balaam is thinking: after I come, perhaps there will be some room, some space, where I can speak words of curse, so that I can obtain Balak’s silver and gold. This is the little scheme in Balaam’s heart. But he does not say this little scheme, right? He thinks, “God did not let me come. Now, God says again that I may come. God wants me to bless the Israelites. Is there any room for me to maneuver here? If there is room for me to maneuver, I will immediately do a little something, eh, get this silver and gold into my hands, and then this matter will be finished. Anyway, I have no responsibility.”

How could I not—when I look at Balak, do you know what kind of people I think of? I think of some government officials, those who take bribes, those government officials who receive money. They are especially like this. They do not bear responsibility, right? The law of the country, the documents—can they approve it or not? “This cannot be approved. This project cannot be approved.” All right, the law of the country is here; I do not move it. The person below wants him to approve this project, so he gives him gifts. He gives gifts. Then does that official really not know that the purpose of your giving gifts to him is to violate this regulation? Of course he knows. But he does not make a sound. “The regulations of the country cannot be violated.” But he has taken the money.

After he has taken it, what does he do? Right? He still has to make the words clear to you: “I do not take responsibility for this matter. If something goes wrong, for example, if this project later has some major problem, I will not be responsible.” Then this group of businessmen, that is, the ones giving bribes, those people engaged in rent-seeking around power, desperately give him gifts. All right, then he says, “Ah, like this, then. This project, I have approved it. But as for the responsibility, you have to bear it yourself.” Do you think there are people here who resemble Balaam? What kind of people are these? They want both sides. They do not want to offend either side. But actually, what they want to do, they know very clearly.

I remember when I used to do business, sometimes when doing bad things—no, when I used to work, actually, what do you want to do? For example, I hoped the payment would come back earlier. I hoped to get this project earlier. This matter, actually, those officials who were doing the approval, they understood it more clearly than you did. We have a mistaken impression, we foolish people, as if he does not know why we have come to find him, why we invite him to dinner, as if he does not know what he is supposed to do, what we want to do. Actually, the day you show up at his door, the moment you knock on the door, he already knows what you want to do. It is nothing more than, heh, helping them, helping you prescribe more medicine, right? How could he not know? You invite him to dinner, invite him to drink, stuff money into his hands; he completely knows what you want to do.

But as for the thing he is going to do, he knows the government does not allow it. Right? On one side, the regulations do not allow it. On the other side, there is this person who keeps wanting to violate it. “You are the one who came to my door yourself, so I will receive this money and wealth.” So here I think these people are actually more deceitful. Of course, they are all very terrible, but more deceitful. That is, he wants to find, between the two sides, a space in which he himself can operate, and in that space make his own benefit as great as possible. This is Balaam’s cleverness. He really is clever.

“I did not look for you, Balak. You, Balak, came to look for me. I have now laid my words before you. Whatever the LORD tells me to say, that is what I will say, right? Do you still want to invite me?” But this Balak is also like a headless fly, also single-mindedly wanting to do this thing. So this Balak, now, still seems very fierce. But actually, between him and Balaam, they are colluding together in evil. Two bad people are together, bringing this matter about.

This Balaam wants to use the method he uses toward Balak to treat God. With God, he also plays this same trick, right? “God, You said not to go. Then, anyway, with Your mouth You did not say that I must not go, right? You told me to go, so I will go back.” Did he not say yesterday, “If You tell me to go, I will go back”? He said, “Go, go and bless them for Me.” God hoped that he would avoid this predicament, right? Because Balak has given you money. He is like a gangster, like a thug. He invites you to go. If you then bless the Israelites like this, he will not let you off easily. Do not go. But what is the reality? Balaam has already completely followed Balak. He is simply determined to obtain this silver and gold.

So what do we say these things are, brothers and sisters? I think for us, they are like a mirror. Just now I spoke about those government officials. I spoke about these evil people in the world. Those ungodly people. Then what about shining light upon ourselves? Is there Balaam inside us? I think there is Balaam inside us.

Why do I say this? Many times, we clearly know what the Bible says. The Bible says that we should keep the Sabbath. The Bible says that we should be fruitful and multiply. The Bible says that we must love the Lord. The Bible says that we must live for the Lord. This is what the Bible says very clearly, right? But then, do we want to do it? “Ah, my life is very weak,” right? “Everyone else is not doing it either, right? Then why should I do it? Let me try. Let me try to open up the world and take a look. Eh, after opening up the world, I find that there is no problem. Life still seems to continue.” So we are constantly testing the LORD, constantly pushing our own interests forward.

As for God’s word, I am not refusing to listen, right? “If, God, You directly speak to me and tell me to listen to Your word, I will definitely listen.” But brothers and sisters, do you know? This is walking in the way of Balaam. In the interaction between us and God, we also want to play this kind of little clever trick. We have little calculations inside us. We want worldly comfort and peace. We want to have a big house, right? A luxury car. In this, “Ah, violating a little bit of the law, that is not a big problem, right? It seems I can do this thing too, right? I am very weak, right?” Actually, God is constantly, with His love, reminding us, helping us, bearing with us. Do not have this kind of thought and cleverness before God. God is a jealous God.

You say, “I have no way. If I do not give and receive bribes, right? If I do not receive bribes, if I do not give bribes, if I do not take, if I do not give that person money, then the surgery cannot be done. If I do not give this money, I cannot be promoted. If I do not give this money, I cannot get the project. God, there is no way. Please give way a little. I will still give the bribe.” These kinds of things are all the little thoughts inside, constantly testing God’s boundary. Is Balaam not exactly like this? Balaam is also constantly testing God’s boundary. “God, You did not say it, so I will do it according to this.” But actually, God’s will had long already been made clear, right?

We want to use the method we use to deal with Balak, the method before Balak, to deal with God. This is truly foolish. God is a holy God. So I have mentioned to you many times: before God, it is good to be a simple, foolish person. Whatever God says, do that. This is the best way. You obey the law; this is the most beautiful thing. Do not keep thinking about my own matters, my own interests, trying out God’s word, “Eh, let me see. Eh, after doing it, let me see what the reaction is. Eh, God has no reaction, right? I will do it again. I will do it again.” If God continues to have no reaction, that may precisely prove that you may not be elect at all, because you simply do not have faith to walk on this way of the cross.

In this week’s Lord’s Day sermon, I mentioned the matter of bringing suffering upon oneself. Obeying the law is bringing suffering upon oneself, right? Balaam wanted neither to offend God nor to offend Balak, and still to take the money and wealth. But there is no middle ground here. Balaam wanted to walk a gray path. “I want God, I also want Balak, and in the middle I also get something for myself. Isn’t that quite good?” But I am sorry, no. There are only two roads. One is God’s road, and one is Balak’s road. If you walk onto Balak’s road, then that is the destruction of the hellish lake of fire. Either you walk God’s road. If you walk God’s road, will you offend Balak? You will offend Balak.

Balak is now coming to invite you. Perhaps in the next moment he will send assassins to get rid of you. Is there this threat? Of course there is. He is a king, right? “I am giving you face.” Is this not how gangsters and thugs do things? Right? He invites you to come and help him. On the surface he is polite, but after he finishes speaking, he turns against you, right? If you do not come, if you do not come, you will be killed. So for Balaam, did he ever think, if he did not go, what result would there be? It might be that Balak would get rid of him. He might die.

But Balaam, at this time, what should the correct way have been? He should have tightly depended on God, right? “If God tells me not to go, I will not go. I would rather offend man, but I cannot offend God,” right? “You kill me, then kill me. In any case, I will not go.” This would have been the expression of a true prophet. But here with Balaam, of course, it may be that one factor is the temptation of money, and another is that he is also under the pressure of Balak. A king like Balak, right? A gangster comes to give you gifts. This matter, right? You had better think clearly, right? If you do not go, perhaps your head will fall. So these are Balaam’s little thoughts.

I think these few days we have been constantly discussing Balaam’s inner activities. I think this matter, in fact, for ourselves, is a very good reminder. In each person’s heart there is a little Balaam. We always hope that between God and the world there is a space in which we ourselves can operate, so that we can obtain our own benefit. Actually, we really are foolish. What benefit of our own is there? There is no benefit.

What was Balaam’s final end? Balaam’s final end was that he was killed by the Israelites. Although later he again did evil things, we will speak of this later: why he did evil, how he did evil. What do these things show? They show that those money and possessions of yours, oh, were useless, right? The things you wanted at that time were useless. So listen to God’s word and enjoy eternal life. These few times, these few weeks as I have been speaking, I have constantly been reminding you of this point: standing at the entrance of hell and heaven, if you think about this matter, you will probably know what you should do. You will be very clear. Do not play this little clever trick before God.

In the end, Balaam still became God’s vessel. He completed all the blessings, right? God told you to go and complete the blessings. That is it. You have no room. It is impossible that inside God’s matter there is still some kind of space where you can do something yourself. There is none. So I think here there is a tremendous reminder for us. We must truly use the Holy Spirit to shine light upon our own hearts: is there Balaam there? Before God, be a blameless person. Do not have these little calculations, these little schemes in the heart, which God does not delight in.

All right, we have finished speaking about Balaam. Then it speaks of Balaam and Balak, the two of them, coming to Kiriath-huzoth. Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and to the officials who were with him. In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal. What does “the high places of Baal” mean? The high places of Baal are places where Baal was worshiped. So do you see? This is fundamentally idolatry. The high places of Baal are the altar of Baal. From there Balaam looked out over the outskirts of the people of Israel.

So this is wanting, at the altar of Baal, to worship the LORD; wanting, at the altar of Baal, to curse the Israelites. In the end, God turned the place of Baal into a place of blessing. Baal was a god of wind and rain worshiped by the Canaanites at that time. I have said before that Canaan, this place, did not have great rivers. Its harvest mainly depended on rainwater. There were two rains: one autumn rain and one spring rain. Without these two rains, there was no way for it to have a harvest. Then as for the autumn rain and the spring rain, on whom did they rely? They relied on worshiping Baal. Worshiping Baal was worshiping the most powerful god among the Canaanite gods at that time. If they worshiped this god Baal, he could send down wind, rain, thunder, and lightning.

How foolish this is. Who is the true God of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning? It is the LORD. So later, in the Prophets, there are many images: God riding on the clouds, God sending out light and flashes, and so on. This tells the reader that the true God who gives wind, rain, thunder, and lightning is the LORD, not Baal. Later there is also the battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. That is a later story.

So here, we must know that God cannot, at the altar of an idol, somehow submit to that altar of an idol. On the contrary, God will use this altar of an idol to accomplish blessing for the Israelites, showing that He alone is the One who rules over all things. All these things on the earth, not one of them is outside God’s rule. So from this angle, Balak is foolish. He did not recognize this true God. Balaam is even more foolish, right? A person who spoke face to face with the LORD, and in the end ended up with such an outcome. This means: do not have little thoughts and schemes. At the same time, Baal, this false god, will also certainly be destroyed by God.

So I think, as we study these Scriptures today, may God lead us, so that we can truly, in these Scriptures, allow Him to shine light upon the Balaam inside our own hearts, forsake idols, reject these little thoughts and schemes of our own, and simply obey God’s word alone, so that in God we may truly receive blessing. All right, today’s sharing will simply stop here. Thank you, everyone.