The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said. “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him. – Numbers 22:7-8

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 8, 2018): Numbers 22

Author J. K. Rowling in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” offers this advice. “As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.” Sometimes the things that we want are exactly the things that things that we shouldn’t have. (Personally, my weakness is Pizza and Quarter Pounders, I want them, but I know I shouldn’t have them, at least, not too many of them.) Money and life, especially an ease of life, are tempting things to dream about possessing. But a number of lottery winners have pointed back to that event in their lives as the moment that ruined their lives. Money destroyed their lives. Money has a way of shaping the way that we think, and what it is that we believe is right – or wrong.

The key to the story of Balak’s and Balaam’s interaction with Israel hinges on this verse. The elders brought with them money (a fee) with which to hire a prophet. And this fee would change Balaam’s perception of the world.

So Balaam offers to go and inquire of God as to what it is that is right with the matter at hand. The problem is that, at this point, Balaam is already compromised. God is not going to happy that Balaam is a “prophet for hire.” In fact, as the story progresses, we find that Balaam wants the fee more than he wants to be the voice of God to Balak and the elders of the nation. Money has corrupted Balaam and the situation. While Balaam was a man with a significant spiritual aptitude, his lack of integrity is revealed by the situation. He is not really one who wants to seek after the will of God. He wants to seek after the diviner’s fee.

Jesus offered this advice. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). It was a lesson that Balaam was about to learn firsthand. He would not be able to be the voice of God to the world, a voice that he had been gifted by God to be, as long as he was chasing after the money of Balak. As long as money was involved, Balaam would consistently chase after the thing that was most detrimental to his life.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 23