Tiny Little Things

I have always thought that if someone sees the Lord, they could not help but worship, because of His attributes: awesome glory, holiness, and sovereignty. I thought those who hear the Lord speaking either in their hearts or their minds would also do the same: worship. I didn’t know that hearing the voice of the Lord, even knowing His heart and divine plan, does not equal to seeing and encountering Him.

Hi, tiny little friends! Many of us, Christians, are familiar with the concept of free will; a freedom that everyone has to choose whatever they deem right. But we often forget that the free will everybody had has already been corrupted by sin. All humans have sinned (Rom 3:23) and no heart is pure, by its default setting, to choose what is right and just. Our hearts and minds have already been corrupted and could potentially use our freedom for anything other than worshipping the Lord.

I was listening to a sermon in one of our Sunday services when this idea came into my mind. The sermon was talking about Balaam. He was an Aramean, summoned by Balak, the King of Moab, to curse Israel as he feared that Israel might destroy his nation. In the night after the princes of Balak came to fetch Balaam to curse Israel, God came to him and said that Balaam should not go with them because the blessings of the LORD are with them (Num 22:12). Do you notice something? Balaam was not an Israelite but he knew God. Not just any God, but the LORD by His proper name (יְהוָֹה) (Num 22:13), who has revealed Himself to Moses and the whole Israel. We see how the LORD revealed Himself not only to one particular person or group of people, but to everyone. What makes difference in each divine encounter is the response of each person.

In the next few chapters after this, we might think that Balaam was a righteous person, or more like a prophet. Someone who knew the LORD, listened to Him, and even brought God’s message and blessings for Israel. He also seemed to ignore the request from Balak to curse God’s people. Seems like someone who obediently followed the Lord. (Now comes the “but.”) But let’s read chapter 25, where many of the naïve Israelites, those who were born in the wilderness and had no knowledge of bad company, were lured by the beauties of the Moab and joined in the worship of Baal Peor. The enemies knew that God’s blessing was upon Israel, and that blessing could turn into a curse only if Israel disobeyed the LORD, their God. This disobedience kindled the anger of the LORD and caused a sudden plague among them. The LORD then commanded Moses to strike these Midianites because of their evil tricks to defeat Israel (Num 25:17-18).

Now we come back to Balaam. Someone has clearly tipped the princes of Moab and Midian to use their beautiful daughters to trap the Israelites. Who was it? Yes, it was none other than Balaam son of Beor. In Numbers 31:16, we can see that it was on Balaam’s advice that caused the Israel to stumble and disobey the LORD. Balaam died the death of the wicked together with the leaders of Midian (Num 31:8), in whom Balak asked for counsel (Num 22:4). A man that once talked and listened to the LORD and knew His divine plans for His people. Balak was even used by God to bring blessing to His people, but he did not choose to follow God. Balak advised the elders of Midian to make Israel fall into false worship, and so God’s blessings were no longer with them. If only Balaam had chosen to be with the people that God blessed, he would have had a different ending. But now we know that even after hearing God’s voice and knowing His plans, worshipping Him is a choice.

Only those whose hearts are pure would see the Lord (Matt 5:8). We go to church every Sunday, sing praise and worship songs, go to weekly Bible study groups, which are all very good. But do we choose God daily? Do we answer God’s calling to live in holiness? Balaam was not the only example of someone who had heard the voice of the Lord but chose not to worship Him. There was also Cain, who killed his brother not long after the LORD came to remind him (Gen 4:6-8). There were probably still some other people I have not yet encountered, written in the Bible, who did similarly.

The calling to be holy is repeated many times in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. Do we answer to that calling? To worship the Lord is a choice. Do we choose to worship Him?