“The Original Talking Donkey”

April 2, 2024

April 2, 2024

Read Numbers 22, Psalm 92, Mark 16

If you could talk with an animal which one would it be? What kinds of questions would you ask? Before there was Mr. Ed or the Donkey from Shrek there was another talking animal. Word of the Israelites victory in battle had made way to Moab and to the King Balak. Afraid of what Israel might do to him, Balak send messengers to a man named Balaam. “Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed” v. 6. God comes to Balaam and tells him not to go with theses men and not to curse Israel because they are a blessed nation. The King Balak tries a second tine to get Balaam to come curse Israel. This time God responds, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you” v. 20. Balaam went on ahead on his own and this angered the Lord who sent an angel to stop him. “When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road” v. 23. The donkey refused to go past the angel and crushed Balaam’s leg against the side of the wall. “Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” v. 28. Many will say, Donkey’s can’t talk, but we must remember this is a miracle and when God acts in our world miracles are possible.

What else do you see in these chapters? What other miracles do you see God working?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

“Snake on a Pole”

April 1, 2024

 April 1, 2024

Read Numbers 21, Psalm 91, Mark 15

Most people are fearful of snakes and who would blame them since the first time we find on in the Bible it is busy deceiving Adam and Eve. Here in Numbers 21 we find an instance of snakes that were scary and that saved some lives. “They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way” v. 4. Their impatience turned into talking bad about the leaders again. “they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’” v. 5. Here is where the snakes come in. “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So, Moses prayed for the people” vv. 6-7. The people realized just how their actions had stirred the Lord’s anger, and they confessed their sin. The solution to the snakes was another snake. “The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived” vv. 8-9.  Jesus mentioned this another snake on a pole in the Gospel of John. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” – John 3:14. The verb “lifted up” in John 3 has a deeper meaning than we might know. It’s not referring to being “lift up” as being praised, rather it refers to being lifted up on the cross. A few chapters later we see this in John 12. “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die” vv. 32-33. This is another symbolic reference in the New Testament that Jesus and the disciples connected to Jesus.

What else stands out to you in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes do you notice?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon