A little boy saw a horse track for the first time in his life and asked his dad what they did there. The dad said, "Men race horses there!" The little boy was quiet for a moment and then offered, "I bet the horses win!" Why do we call common sense horse sense? Common sense is called horse sense because you never see a horse betting on a man!
Baalam, a prophet from Moab, discovered that his donkey was smarter than he. When he was invited to pronounce a curse on the Israelites for money, he headed that way. But along the way his donkey stopped in the middle of the road because it saw the angel of the Lord. The donkey was trying to protect his reckless master from harm. When Baalam hit the donkey, the donkey had a conversation with him. What a fascinating story. I am not expecting animals to talk to me any time soon. But this story tells me that God will stop at nothing to get our attention.
What would God have to do to get our attention today? What if he sent his only Son to die on a cross for us? Would that get our attention? When we are choosing a reckless path, God will often interrupt us momentarily giving us a chance to come to our senses. A friend of mine who had run from the Lord went to a church one Sunday morning to discover the preacher was preaching on this very text. The title of the sermon was, “Dumber than a donkey.” My friend said, “I knew I had come to the right place.” There God spoke to him and called him back to himself. May God do this for us today. Whatever it takes, may he get our attention.
When we humble ourselves before God, he promises to hear our prayers, forgive our sin, and heal our land. One act of repentance can be the beginning of a life-transformation and lead to a revival. If you find yourself running from God today, stop and turn to him. He is following you with goodness and mercy and he wants you to dwell in his house forever.
