God has real jokes in the Bible. But we often get so serious that we miss both the joy and the wisdom in them. Just consider the story of the king, the prophet, and the donkey in Numbers 22–24. One of the punchlines could be: “Listen to the donkey!”
Israel is wandering through the desert, heading toward the Promised Land. As they pass near Moab, the Moabite king panics. He’s hiding in the hills, secretly watching this loud, huge, strange nation march past. He’s heard what their God can do, and he knows he can’t defeat them.
So he hires Balaam, a pagan prophet—a spiritual hit man—to curse Israel. Meanwhile, God is already at work. The Israelites have no idea a contract has been put out on them. They’re tired, complaining, and spiritually distracted, yet God is fighting battles they can’t see. He still does that for us. Can we say “Amen!”
Enter the donkey. Balaam must ride the donkey to his new spiritual hit man job. The donkey sees the angel of the Lord blocking the road with a drawn sword. Balaam does not. She saves his life by turning aside; he beats her for it. Then God opens her mouth—and she talks. Balaam argues back, like this is normal. The donkey sees like a prophet; the prophet sees like a donkey.
When God finally opens Balaam’s eyes, he realizes the danger and humbles himself. We need that same eye exam: are our desires blinding us to God’s will?
When they arrive at the hills, the king keeps begging Balaam to curse; every time, God makes him bless Israel instead. They try again and again—from different locations, with more sacrifices—sweating in the desert, repeating the same failure. That’s spiritual insanity: fighting God and expecting to win. No one can curse what God has blessed.
In the end, Israel keeps moving, protected and unaware. The king and Balaam walk away angry with each other and empty-handed. The donkey simply trots off, surely laughing, wiser than them all.
Learn what the donkey knew: (1) Go only where God sends you; (2) Say only what God gives you; (3) Remember: you can’t be cursed when you’re covered by the blessing of Almighty God; (3) And don’t lose your joy—laugh with God. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
”The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is with them;” (Numbers 23:21b)
God bless you!
Pastor Janice Fareed-Hardy
