TODAY IS…

the day to listen to your “inner donkey”.

“Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.”  Numbers 22:31 KJV

Balaam should have trusted his donkey, but he didn’t.

The donkey saw danger ahead and, to protect Balaam, refused to move forward. Balaam chose to beat the donkey three separate times rather than consider why it was refusing to go forward. God did two things: first, He gave the donkey the ability to speak, enabling him to point out to Balaam what should have been obvious to him.

“’But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,’ the donkey answered. ‘Have I ever done anything like this before?’ ‘No,’ Balaam admitted.” (Numbers 22:30 NLT).

Now, at least, Balaam was starting to think that perhaps there was a reason for the donkey’s behavior. Second, at this point in time the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, allowing him to see the danger that the donkey had seen and tried to protect him from.

Our conscience is just like Balaam’s donkey.

It will always try to prevent us from going where we will encounter danger or will face harm. Our “Inner Donkey,” if you will, lets us know that the Holy Spirit is in us and is trying to speak to us. How often have we ignored our “Inner Donkey” only to wish that we hadn’t? Taking a moment to listen to our conscience can alter the course of our lives.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about “…holding on to faith and a good conscience, some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:19 NIV).

Some of us have experienced a “shipwreck”” in our lives as a result of not taking heed of our conscience. That split second where we ignored the warning was all it took to succumb to a temptation that created a major problem in our life or altered its course completely.

Perhaps we have committed adultery and seriously damaged or destroyed the relationship we had with our spouse. Possibly we have crossed lines we shouldn’t have in our behavior while on the internet and have succumbed to temptations that have changed the course of our future. Some of us may have used drugs or driven a car while intoxicated and had an experience that could have been avoided if we had only listened to the donkey.

For those of us who have experienced “a shipwreck” or two – or even three – we must work diligently to correct what we have wronged and to ask God daily to give us the strength to do so and to never run our ship aground again. For those who have not, you must maintain a constant vigil, listening for the voice of your “Inner Donkey” trying to warn you of impending danger.

With a strong relationship with God, we will be the proud owner of a very stubborn donkey that will always warn us of trouble ahead.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson