Roadblocks

             One of my mantras for the year is “Move Forward.” When I got home from church yesterday, I realized I had forgotten to pick up a few things I needed at the store, which is OK because I forgot to take my purse. Among my tasks for the afternoon was making dog food, and I realized that I was out of peas. I also happen to need a few other things I’d forgotten when I went shopping. The only reason that any of that is important is that not having the things will prevent me from moving forward. They are admittedly minor, silly, quickly addressed roadblocks, which suggest that there are bigger, “badder” roadblocks that may provide a more significant hindrance. Discerning which sort of roadblock prevented the forward motion might be an excellent idea. That brought the following passage to mind:

Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the Moabite officials. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.  When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.     

Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 

When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 

 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.” (Numbers 20:21-34)

I’ll admit it. Playing games helps me get through the tedium of life. The streets department gets a point every time they plow my street, and I don’t get it cleared up in thirty minutes or less. If I clear it, I get the point. (We’re tied.) I “bust ghosts” whenever I take care of a task that should have been done ___ days/weeks/months/years ago. It’s fun to go do a good deed – if no one knows I’ve done it. Perhaps God has given me a new game with three basic steps. 1) Identify that there is a roadblock, 2) Discern whether it is an Ass or an Angel, 3) Respond accordingly.

I recognize that in Numbers, the ass was trying to protect Balaam from the angel, and that’s possible. But, if what I think is an ass started “talking” or otherwise acting unusually, that’s one of the ways of recognizing that there’s an angel involved. I plan to have fun with it. You are free to do that, to ignore it as yet another example of my insanity, or to treat it as food for thought.