Walking with Henry by Rachel Anne Ridge

Author:Rachel Anne Ridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Prayer, RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Scripture is brimming with customs, culture, and nature. Laying down my modern lenses gave me space to appreciate the beauty, embrace the difficulties, and let the stories pose their own questions. It’s no surprise that I especially love the stories with animals who either play supporting characters, like the ravens that fed Elijah, or feature in a major role, such as the fish that swallowed Jonah.

Flash, lifting his head from the wildflowers, sucked in air and let out a booming hee-HAW, hee-HAW, hee-HAW-HAW. I smiled at the outlandish sound emanating from him. It reverberated around the field and seemed to bounce off the trees along the fence. His bray immediately brought to mind one of my favorite Bible stories, starring a talking donkey and a man named Balaam.

I never get tired of reading this head-scratching incident from the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land, but I used to get stuck on the logistics of the whole thing. How, exactly, does a donkey talk? You can find the account in Numbers 22, but I’ll give you the Rachel Notes version here:

Balak, king of Moab, was terrified. The Israelites had already destroyed his Amorite neighbors on their march to the Promised Land, and now his own kingdom was in their path. King Balak persuasively hired Balaam, a renowned pagan seer, to take care of the problem by cursing God’s chosen people.

So Balaam set out on his donkey to Moab, accompanied by two servants and the king’s messengers, even though God had told Balaam not to go. Suddenly Balaam’s donkey bolted off the road and ran into a field.

What is going on? Balaam thought. He angrily beat his donkey (I’m not keen on that reaction!), then resumed the journey.

As the road narrowed between two vineyard walls, the donkey abruptly swerved and slammed Balaam’s foot against the wall. Once again, the seer beat his donkey.

A few minutes later, without warning, the donkey stopped dead in her tracks and lay down, with Balaam still on her back.

“I’ve had enough of this!” Balaam rolled off the animal and took out his fury a third time.

He struck her repeatedly, and when Balaam raised his arm to hit her again, the donkey spoke: “Why are you beating me?”

“You’ve made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted.

“I’ve been your donkey since the day you learned to ride,” the donkey replied. “Have I ever behaved like this before?”

“No,” Balaam admitted.

As soon as he answered, the Lord, who had given the donkey the ability to speak, opened Balaam’s eyes. There, in the middle of the road, he saw the angel of the Lord holding a drawn sword. No wonder the donkey was frightened! And Balaam? Well, he was so scared that he fell facedown on the ground.

“Why did you beat your donkey?” the angel demanded. “I intentionally blocked the road because you knowingly disobeyed me. If the donkey hadn’t seen me and reacted I would have killed you on the spot and spared the donkey.”

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