{"id":9089,"date":"2016-07-21T06:46:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T13:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=9089"},"modified":"2016-07-21T06:46:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T13:46:26","slug":"lessons-from-balaam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/21\/lessons-from-balaam\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Balaam, the Selfish, Willful Manipulator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Balaam's<\/a><\/p>\n

Numbers 22:21\u201322, A willful, selfish manipulator.<\/b> Balaam was willful, greedy, arrogant, rebellious and presumptuous in the face of YHVH\u2019s revealed will. Balaam was attempting to manipulate YHVH through soulish means for his personal gain.<\/p>\n

But the moral of the story is that YHVH is sovereign over the affairs of men regardless of men\u2019s machinations. The will of YHVH cannot be manipulated or bent to accommodate men\u2019s selfish ambitions. After all, how can man\u2014a created being\u2014hope to play mind games with the Sovereign Creator of the universe and win? In the end, man will be humbled and YHVH will be exalted as was the case with Balaam\u2014an arrogant and internationally acclaimed \u201cprophet.\u201d He was made to look like a fool through a talking donkey and all this occurred in front of the accompanying delegation of Moabite leaders.<\/p>\n

It was evident to all that Balaam was but a pawn in the hands of YHVH, and that if YHVH could make a brute beast speak, then he was certainly capable of putting his words into the mouth of mortal man, albeit a sorcerer.<\/p>\n

What lessons can we learn here? Is it wise to toy with or tempt Elohim or try to manipulate him to fit our will? How often do we attempt to bend his will to fit our own? How often do we have our own carnal and selfish agendas and then attempt to convince ourselves and others that it is the will of YHVH? What are the end results? How many people go through life on this basis and never grow in their walk since they have never learned to distinguish between their will and that of the Almighty?<\/p>\n

When we finally submit to YHVH and let go of our own selfish agendas, it is then that we start to have the breakthroughs in our lives and begin to experience his joy, shalom and victory not to mention an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t
 <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numbers 22:21\u201322, A willful, selfish manipulator. Balaam was willful, greedy, arrogant, rebellious and presumptuous in the face of YHVH\u2019s revealed will. Balaam was attempting to manipulate YHVH through soulish means for his personal gain. But the moral of the story … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[317,138],"class_list":["post-9089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-readings","tag-balaam","tag-numbers"],"yoast_head":"\nLessons from Balaam, the Selfish, Willful Manipulator | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/21\/lessons-from-balaam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons from Balaam, the Selfish, Willful Manipulator | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Numbers 22:21\u201322, A willful, selfish manipulator. 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