The man who could not make up his mind

As Israel pitched their tents, one of their enemies was watching them. It was Balak, the king of Moab. Balak was afraid of Israel because he knew God fought for their army. He sent money to a man named Balaam to persuade him to curse Israel. Balaam had a very greedy heart but he tried to hide it by acting religious. Balaam also had heard about God fighting for his people. He knew that Israel was blessed by God.

When the men brought the money to Balaam to persuade him to curse Israel, Balaam said he would have to talk to God about it. This was wrong because there are things that we know are against God's will and it is foolish to pray about doing something wrong. God answered Balaam's prayer anyway. He told Balaam not to curse the people and not to go with the men. Balak didn't give up, instead he sent more messengers and more money to try to convince Balaam to do what he knew was wrong. This was a test that God allowed to come to Balaam. Balaam knew that God had already told him no but he wanted to try any way he could to get the money.

First Balaam said, "I can't do anything against the command of the Lord." When Balaam said this he was making a promise to obey God's will. However, Balaam failed the test. That night he prayed again asking the Lord what he should do. As if he didn't know what to do already! God was angry and allowed Balaam to go with the men.

God had set a trap along the way to punish Balaam for his disobedience. He sent a strong angel with a sword but Balaam's donkey saved his life. After the trip into the hills Balaam still asked the Lord what he should do pretending he didn't know. God would only let him bless Israel so Balak the king was very angry and Balaam had to run for his life. He did not receive the money or honor he was hoping to get. In fact, his name goes down in history as a man who tried to make money by ruining the spiritual life of others. Balaam could have had the respect of men if he would have really lived for the Lord, instead he was killed along with God's other enemies when Israel took over the land.

Taken from Numbers 23, 24

NO CHEATING

One day we will all face the Lord and give an account to Him for all He has given us. God will not hold us responsible for what we did not have, but for what we did have. A wise man in the Bible knew this, and his name was Ezra. He worked with Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem. Ezra had a special responsibility from the king. The king had given Ezra a lot of silver and gold to help rebuild the city. Ezra knew he had to be very careful with the money. Before Ezra there had been some men who had been greedy with the king's gifts. Also, Jerusalem had plenty of enemies who were looking for a chance to stop the city from being rebuilt -they had stopped the work once already by causing confusion.

Ezra didn't want any confusion about how the money was being used. He knew he would have to prove that he used the money wisely. The first thing Ezra did was to call the leaders of the city together and weigh the silver and gold. After it was counted, a few days later he counted it again. All of the money was there, exactly the right amount. Now Ezra could be sure that he could prove that no one was using it for anything that it was not supposed to be used for.

Back in those days people often cheated each other when they weighed and counted money. Each coin weighed a little different than the one before it. If you needed change for your money you had to go to a money changer. One of the things God hates the most is a cheater. That is why Jesus chased the money changers out of the temple. They were cheating people when they gave them change for their money. This shows us that God wants us to be true to him even in little things like counting and measuring.

Taken from Ezra 8