Donkey Talks: How God Gets Our Attention

Whether you're on a road trip, tossing a Frisbee in the yard, or munching toast at the breakfast table, I'm Pastor Justin, and this is Carpooling with Jesus. Today's story is one of the weirdest and funniest in the Bible. It has a mysterious prophet, a heavenly angel with a sword and a donkey that talks. Yep. A real talking donkey. No Shrek here, just Bible characters. I wanna check out the verse for today. It's from numbers chapter 22 verse 28. Then the Lord opened the donkey's mouth. I could not believe it when I read that. See, there was a man named Balaam. He wasn't an Israelite prophet, but he was famous. People believed he had the power to bless or curse others, and he lived near the Euphrates River in a region that's now part of Iraq. Back then traveling that far meant long days on a donkey and very dusty roads. A king named Balak wanted Balaam to curse God's people, the Israelites, but he was scared of them and God had already told Balaam not to go, but Balaam kinda wanted the reward that king was offering. So he went riding his donkey. Now here's where it gets wild. God sent an angel to stand in the road with a sword in his hand, but get this Balaam couldn't see the angel, but the donkey could. So what did she do? First, she veered off into a field. Then she crushed Balaam's foot against a stone wall. Ouch. Then she sat down in the middle of the road and Balaam, well, he got mad, really mad. He hit the donkey and started yelling at her. That's when the miracle happened. God opened the donkey's mouth and she said, why are you hitting me? Which is a pretty reasonable question, but is pretty funny coming from a donkey. Could you imagine a talking donkey and Balaam, what was going through his mind? He just talks right back, like it's totally normal to argue with a donkey. Here's the one big thing I want you to focus on. Balaam was so focused on what he wanted to do. He completely missed what God was doing. Even a donkey could see it. I wanna tell you about Lucas. He was running as fast as he could at field day at camp to win the big prize. But he was so locked in to the finish line that he didn't even hear his camp counselor yelling, slow down, there's a rope. He tripped, fell flat, didn't win, and later said, I didn't even hear him. I was so focused on myself winning, just like Balaam, Lucas was so focused on what he wanted, that he missed the warning signs. God can speak to us in all kinds of ways, through our parents, through our camp counselors or our teachers when we're in school, a verse that we read in the Bible, or a godly friend who tells us the truth, even if it's hard to hear. Sometimes God speaks through surprises that stop us right in our tracks. Here's the bottom line. God can speak through anything, so pay attention. Don't forget, no matter where you are, no matter how you're listening, God loves you. Hey parents, if you love this podcast, share about it in a parent group or community group on Facebook. Let people know to go check out Carpooling with Jesus. Now, before you go answer this together, has God ever tried to get your attention through something surprising? Maybe a person, a situation, or even an unexpected moment? I'll see you tomorrow on Carpooling with Jesus.