Comments on: How We Taught This Lesson in the Past: Lesson 16: “I Cannot Go Beyond the Word of the Lord” http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2010/04/18/how-we-taught-this-lesson-in-the-past-lesson-16-i-cannot-go-beyond-the-word-of-the-lord/ Where our past is never very long ago Sat, 25 May 2013 06:15:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Bookslinger http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2010/04/18/how-we-taught-this-lesson-in-the-past-lesson-16-i-cannot-go-beyond-the-word-of-the-lord/comment-page-1/#comment-21796 Bookslinger Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:59:10 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=5225#comment-21796 I’m not quite sure how to process the story of Balaam. In a way, it’s similar to the loss of the 116 pages of the BoM. First the Lord says “No”, but the prophet asks again later, and the Lord says “Okay”.

I’m not sure what to make of the angel blocking the path, either. First the angel says (or implies) that Balaam should not go, and then the angel says “okay, go now.”

Later on in the O.T. (in Numbers, I think), Balaam is killed, but I thought it was by the Israelites. Moses or Joshua says (or implies) that they killed Balaam because Balaam came up with the idea of having the Moabites entice the Israelites to sin, and thereby lose the protection of God so the Moabites could overpower the Israelites. (Like someone ratting out Superman’s kryptonite secret to Lex Luthor.)

My preliminary understanding is this: Take the Lord’s FIRST answer and don’t go back and pester Him to change His mind. If circumstances change such that a re-think is necessary, be careful how you word it. Maybe the first question should be: “Do these new circumstances justify a new decision?” Because if we ask the Lord for enough rope to hang ourselves, these two stories lead me to believe that He’ll give it to us.

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