Intentions Matter - Balaam

Balak’s messengers, who were elders of Moab and Midian, set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel. They went to Balaam and delivered Balak’s message to him. “Stay here overnight,” Balaam said. “In the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say.”

Numbers 22:7-8

Did you ever know a married coworker who avoided an adulterous affair only because he feared being caught and losing everything he had worked for? Are you acquainted with a stingy believer who gives generously because someone told him that giving guarantees more financial blessings?

Motives can be everything.

The Bible insists that God sees not just what we do but also why we do it. In other words, it’s not just the actions that count but the motivation behind those actions.

Take Balaam, for example. He was a Midianite sorcerer, a “prophet for hire” who three times spoke a blessing on the nation of Israel. He is still denounced in Scripture as an evil man with a corrupt heart.

Wait a minute, you might be thinking. How can a man who blessed God’s people not once, but three times, be such an evil man?

The book of Joshua tells us that the only reason Balaam didn’t curse Israel as the Moabite king Balak requested was that God stopped him and made him speak blessings (see Joshua 24:1-13). Later, the apostle Peter classified Balaam with false teachers who “lure unstable people into sin” (2 Peter 2:14) and wrote that he “loved to earn money by doing wrong” (2 Peter 2:15). In Jesus’ words, Balaam “showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel” (Revelation 2:14).

Balaam spoke blessings on God’s people when he intended to speak curses. Clearly, he lacked a true heart for God.

Do you obey God from the heart? Do you find yourself doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? God honors and blesses you when you have an obedient heart. What comes from the heart is what matters!