Praying An Agenda

Read: Numbers 24:10-14

Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. . . . “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times.”

Numbers 24:10

IN WORD In the strange story of Balaam and Balak (Numbers 22–24), we read of a king convinced that it must be the divine will to save his people. He summoned Balaam to pronounce a curse against Israel’s coming horde. We marvel at Balak’s inability to understand. Poor simpleton; he just doesn’t get it. Blessing and cursing is not about his personal agenda; it’s about God’s. Balaam even tells him the rules up front, but Balak simply can’t get it out of his head that if he pays enough, pleads enough, and promises enough honor, the sorcerer will be able to establish the divine will all by himself. Obviously, he can’t. Balaam can only do what God tells him to do.

Balak is an easy target for our contempt. What a fool! But aren’t we often similar? Isn’t this how we approach prayer? We try to persuade God to bless our own agenda. We come up with a plan in all confidence that it’s surely God’s will. We miss a crucial step in the process. The first item of business in any prayer request is not to ask God to defend our position, establish our plans, or fulfill any other aspect of our agenda; it’s to ask Him what His agenda is. Balak’s bullheadedness led to utter frustration. Are you utterly frustrated, too?

IN DEED How often do you pray for your agenda without consulting God for His? Are you absolutely sure that what you’re asking for is part of His plan? We don’t have to know every aspect of God’s will before praying, but we must pray with an understanding that His will, believe it or not, may contradict ours. We simply must forsake our assumptions and be open to that. Never be a Balak in disguise, using prayer as a sanitized form of sorcery. Use it to get yourself in line with the divine program. Then pray your heart out.

You cannot alter the will of God, but the man of prayer can discover God’s will.

—SADHU SUNDAR SINGH