by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
“God said to Balaam, ‘Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed’<\/em>” (Numbers 22:12).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Balaam knew what God said, but he kept entertaining the idea of going with Balak’s messengers. He wanted God to change His mind. Balaam’s struggle wasn’t confusion; it was desire. He wanted the reward that came with compromise.<\/p>\n
We face similar temptations. Sometimes we know what God wants, but we keep revisiting the temptation. We leave the door cracked open. We tell ourselves we’re just thinking. But the longer we linger, the harder it becomes to obey.<\/p>\n
God’s clarity is a gift. When He says no, it’s for our protection. When He says yes, it’s for our good. Balaam’s story reminds us that obedience begins in the heart long before it shows up in our actions.<\/p>\n
If there’s an area where you’re lingering near compromise, close the door. Trust that God’s boundaries are for your good. Peace comes when we stop negotiating and start obeying.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores “God said to Balaam, ‘Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed’” (Numbers 22:12). Balaam knew what God said, but he kept entertaining the idea of going with Balak’s messengers. He wanted God to change His mind. Balaam’s struggle wasn’t confusion; it was desire. He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[700,1101,185],"class_list":["post-96709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-balaam","tag-compromise","tag-temptation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93879,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-way-of-balaam\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":0},"title":"The Way of Balaam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier via Read the Bible, Make Disciples Peter's descriptions of the false teachers in II Peter 2 are as creative as they are intense. We could spend pages and pages walking through each description. However, I want to home in on one allusion. This reference highlights the slippery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-story-of-balaam\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":1},"title":"The Story of Balaam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Numbers 22:22-35\u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Background \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the children of Israel left their wanderings in the wilderness and move towards the promised land, they had to cross through the territories of a few countries. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The leaders of these countries were nervous to have such a large mass of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85465,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/balaams-talking-donkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":2},"title":"Balaam\u2019s Talking Donkey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael Ray Baggett Have you ever watched the movie Francis the Talking Mule? Have you ever watched the old TV classic Mr. Ed about a talking horse? These were entertaining shows, even though they were unrealistic. But hold on! The Bible tells us about a prophet whose donkey really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0025-6-300x228.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89428,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-we-need-from-balaam-and-his-donkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":3},"title":"Lessons We Need from Balaam and His Donkey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Blackford It begins with Balak, the Moabite king, who was fearful of the Israelites moving through his territory on their way to the Promised Land. He sent for Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner, to bribe him to pronounce a curse on the Israelites. Concerning the donkey, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jackass-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4071,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-gave-what-of-balaam-the-ability-to-speak\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":4},"title":"God gave what of Balaam the ability to speak?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God gave the _____ of Balaam the ability to speak. Answer: \"Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, \"What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?\" And Balaam said to the donkey, \"Because you have abused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89573,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thoughts-on-balaam\/","url_meta":{"origin":96709,"position":5},"title":"Thoughts on Balaam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Josh Welch Been thinking a lot about Balaam lately. The New Testament warns about him three times (II Peter 2:15-16; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14). Yet, when I read Numbers 22-24 in the Old Testament account, he's just a real conundrum to me. He doesn't seem all that bad on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}