The Fool's Errand

The Fool's Errand
Jan 25, 2009
Numbers 22:29 "Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me. . ."


In Numbers chapter 22 there was a man of God, Balaam, who decided to entertain the company of the enemy of God's people. God directly ordered Balaam not to work with these men, to stay away from their offers. But for some reason, Balaam decided to hear them out, to do what he wanted. He completely disregarded the Lord's order to stay away from the sons of Satan. Balaam decided he would be the master of his own errands and at least join the enemy for a conversation. So, he ended up loading his donkey and setting out to meet them. This angered God and so He sent an angel to stop Balaam in his tracks. Balaam was so engrossed in being the master of his own flesh that he could not see with spiritual eyes. He had blinded himself to the Lord and what the Lord wanted. Balaam never saw the hand of God opposing his errand, the angel sent to strike him down. Thankfully, the donkey saw the angel with a drawn sword and turned away three times. Now the story gets funny.

Balaam beats the donkey these three times and finally the donkey speaks to him, protesting the beatings. Read the exact words of the scripture, "Balaam answered the donkey, "you have made a fool of me..."" Ok, who's the fool talking to the donkey? Idiot. Balaam has the audacity to take up a conversation with a talking animal and then accuse the donkey of making him look like a fool. Balaam never gets the irony; he never sees himself talking to the "Equus Asinus." The angel of the Lord was standing there watching the interaction and decided to make himself known to Balaam. Then Balaam understands. He finally realizes the angel was going to strike him down because of his foolish errand. Had the angel never opened Balaam's eyes, Balaam would have continued in his grave decision to be the master of his own errand.

While the story is entertaining, it speaks volumes about what you and I do every day. We go about our lives, doing what we want. Forget what God wants or what He has told us to do through his Scriptures. We are the masters of our own errands; we decide what we will do. But then we encounter difficulty in our lives and beat at the air with our fists, complaining about everything that is not going our way. Maybe there's a reason. Maybe, if we could take our eyes off of our fool's errand we could see, with spiritual eyes, the hand of the Lord at work. Maybe the door that is closed in your life's situation is really the Lord keeping you from getting the axe from an angel. But instead of embracing the opportunity to see the roadblock from the Lord, we try to force the issue, making a fool out of ourselves, placing our lives in danger.

I'd like to say that I've never created my own fool's errand, but I'd be deceiving you. Likewise, I'm confident there are things in your very life right now that are not directives from the Lord, activities that you have decided to engage in despite being unwise. Maybe what you're doing isn't necessarily the wrong thing but if the Lord didn't ask you to do it, then it is a fool's errand. I only want to do the things in my life that the Lord wants me to do, nothing more and nothing less. I'll admit it is difficult to always pray for direction regarding each and every activity, but if you do, you'll save yourself sooooo much extra work. And who knows, maybe you'll even save your own life by listening to the Lord. Imagine, the Lord knowing best? It's probably better to do what God says than get caught talking to a donkey.

1. Have you ever found yourself talking to a donkey?
2. What are you doing in your life that the Lord did or did not ask you to do?
3. How can you be sure your activities are not fool's errands?

Add. Scriptures for Study: Numbers 22, Eph 5:17, 2 Cor 6:14, James 4:15