Different

 A word from the Lord and a word from your gut are not interchangeable. They don’t hold the same weight, they don’t have equal importance, and they’re not equally relevant. They are different by design, nature, source, and definition, and once you start to infer that a word from your gut is a word from the Lord, it’s only a matter of time before the rug gets pulled out from under, and you face plant in full view of everyone.

God’s ways are not your ways. God’s thoughts are not your thoughts. Wishing it, willing it, holding your breath until it is made so doesn’t work, no matter how committed you are to making God think like you. Therefore, even if some piece of counsel or advice you plan on giving to someone seems perfectly logical, it does not mean that it is what God would have said given the same circumstances. As such, it is wrong and dangerous to put words in God’s mouth or say what the Lord said when He didn’t.

Nowadays, anything goes, and for many, it’s tempting to cut corners, allow for suppositions, or outright declare that the Lord said something when He didn’t. It adds a layer of authority when someone speaks on behalf of God rather than when they offer an opinion.

A wise man knows to be silent when God is not speaking, and when He is, to relay the message verbatim, no matter how harsh it may be or how difficult to deliver. He also knows that if a question is asked and answered, the topic ought not to be revisited, hoping for a different answer. At that point, you’re just tempting God, and we are specifically instructed not to.

I often run across this when young people contemplate marriage, and they ask God if it is His will, and they don’t get the answer they expected. They keep going from place to place until they get the answer they were looking for, not realizing that God will not repeat Himself a hundred times.

God is not a magic eight-ball. You don’t get to shake Him until the answer you deem fitting floats to the surface.

Balaam was told no, but his heart wanted him to go. To have a king owing you favors is a nice get, especially when that king promised to honor you greatly and do whatever you said.

It’s easy to beat on Balaam. He’s convenient and flawed and easily picked apart, especially when not considering what he was being offered and that he turned it down not once but twice. Balaam knew the fear of the Lord, the will of the Lord, and the way of the Lord well enough to resist the temptation of being honored by kings. However, his heart still yearned after it, and when Balak’s emissaries returned, Balaam entreated God anew.

Numbers 22:18-21, “Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight that I may know what more the Lord will say to me. And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you – that you shall do.” So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.’”

How many times does God have to give the same answer to the same question? Seeing that He is not getting through and that for every answer He gives, you have a rebuttal or insist that your feelings should matter, how long before God just says, do what you will? He’s not going to twist your arm until you cry, uncle. He’s not going to force you to do something against your will. This is the way, walk in it is sound advice, and yes, He is sure about the way and about walking in it.

Once Balaam told Balak’s representatives to spend the night, that he might see what more the Lord would say, things started going sideways. He’d already received an answer from God. He should have been stern and forthright with the men who came for a second time, making it clear that God had said no, and there would be no change no matter how much they offered.

Some might take issue with God first telling Balaam to go, then being angry with him for going, only because they do not take into account that God knew Balaam’s heart and what he desired, and because they do not understand the nature of God, in that when He says no, it’s no, and there’s no squabbling about it.

When one of my daughters asked for something that I declined to proffer, it used to be that they approached their mother with the same request just to see if she’d say yes when I said no. We caught on quickly enough, so the first question either of us asks is what the other parent said before any further discussion can be had.

Usually, with a sullen look and a defeated gaze, they say mom already answered no, because they know they’re not getting whatever they hoped to get.

God remembers the answers He gave you. If He said no, the answer was no, and you must accept that as His final answer. Why He would say no is something He knows from a position of having seen the end from the beginning, and as wise servants, we must trust in His decisions.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.