How does it feel to want?!

Sorry for the delay! The much anticipated "Next Post"!

Read Numbers 22-24.

The story of Balaam:

Ok...so, Balaam is a prophet (one of the good ones). He listens to God; does what he's told and knows when to speak and when to keep his mouth shut (for the Lord!). Anyhow, there's Balak, the king of Moab, who is upset at the Israelites and wants Balaam to come and curse them for him. He sends his gang over to Balaam; Balaam checks it out with God. God says that he likes these nomads from Israel and that they shouldn't be messed with. Balaam tells Balak's people and so Balak sends some more noble friends to ask again. Balaam checks it out with God again and God allows him to go meet Balak, but not to do anything without His command. After a little traffic accident with God, they get to Balak's. Balak takes Balaam to a place where he can see the Israelites and asks him to curse them. They build seven altars and slaughter seven bulls and seven rams. Balaam talks with God about cursing the Israelites. God says (again) that the people from Israel are chosen. Balak takes Balaam to a different place to look over the Israelite camp (different perspective). They build more altars, slaughter more animals. Balaam talks to God again; same answer. Guess what, they go through the whole process one more time, with the same result. In fact, he actually winds up blessing Jacob and the Israelites, saying that they will destroy Moab (not to mention some other places).

Pretty simple moral here:

God is constant. And often, our goals are not his. In reading this story, we'd like to think that we are the faithful prophet Balaam, who consistently listens to the will of God (which tells him the same thing every time), not to mention actually does what God says.

Unfortunately, I find myself acting more like the king, Balak. "Maybe if I can just make God see it from my perspective, he'll do what I want him to." "No, no...God. Maybe you misunderstood; I want this."

In prayer, we repeatedly ask for what we want, ignoring the Will of God. We assume that we know best. "God, if only I could get this raise (or whatever it is that we assume will make us happy)". Really, our focus should be upon having the faith to do His Will. To trust God enough to not question and not seek for something to fill our hearts outside of His love.

"Good things come to those who wait." I'd rather think that it should be "Good things come to those who have faith"; and not faith in the good thing, but faith in God's providence. Only God knows where we need to go and what we will need to get through to get there.