Talking Donkeys and Crying Stones

I was reading from the Book of Numbers this morning and came to chapter 22, where the story of a talking donkey is recorded.  At first I wasn't too impressed as we have hundreds of them in Washington who do nothing but talk all the time.  But then I realized that this donkey actually told the truth.  I knew then and there it had to be the hand of God at work.  Of course I'm joking.  There aren't any real donkeys in Washington - real donkeys are very useful animals able to carry the burdens placed on them, politicians are fairly useless critters that put burdens on others.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  The story of Balaam and his donkey is, of course, a story of the miraculous working of God.  In this story, God actually works two miracles: 1) he opens the mouth of the donkey (v. 28) and 2) he opens the eyes of Balaam (v. 31).  God opened the donkey's mouth so it could warn Balaam of what it saw, "the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a sword in his hand" (vv. 23-25) and he opened Balaam's eyes so he could confirm the donkey's warning of his "reckless path" (v. 32).

The miracle of the talking donkey is amazing but so is the ability of the donkey to see what was unseen by Balaam.  The donkey was able to see and respond to the angel of the Lord but Balaam was clueless.  Don't you find it amazing that a "dumb" animal is more attuned to the spiritual world around us than we "smart" humans?

In Luke 19, Jesus' disciples, who were common people that the Pharisees considered to be ignorant and unlearned, praised Jesus as he entered Jerusalem saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord" (v. 38).  Their words angered the Pharisees who insisted that Jesus rebuke them  (v. 39) to which Jesus replied, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out" (v. 40).  His words seem to suggest that a box of rocks has more spiritual insight than many religious leaders.

It would seem that human wisdom gets in the way of spiritual truth, that the smarter we think ourselves, the less we actually perceive.  Human wisdom, therefore, is not very wise: "Where is the wise person?  Where is the teacher of the law?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Cor 1:20).  Human wisdom is foolish because "...the world through its wisdom did not know him" (1 Cor 1:21).

So, what does all this mean?  What should we take away from talking donkeys and crying stones?  The meaning, the takeaway, is that you and I ought to spend less time chasing human intelligence and more time pursuing spiritual insight.  Let us be wise, but let us have truth.  Jus' Say'n.