The man who knew that, knew more than ninety-nine in
a hundred do even in a Christian country now, and more than nine
hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine in a
million knew in those days. Let no one, after that speech, doubt
that Balaam was indeed a prophet of the Lord; and yet he was a bad
man, and came deservedly to a bad end.
So much easier, my friends, is it to know what is right than to do
what is right.
What then was wrong in Balaam?
This, that he was double-minded. He wished to serve God. True.
But he wished to serve himself by serving God, as too many do in all
times.
That was what was wrong with him--self-seeking; and the Bible story
brings out that self-seeking with a delicacy, a keenness, and a
perfect knowledge of human nature, which ought to teach us some of
the secrets of our own hearts. Watch how Balaam, as a matter of
course, inquires of the Lord whether he may go, and refuses,
seemingly at first honestly.
Then how the temptation grows on him; how, when he feels tempted, he
fights against it in fine-sounding professions, just because he
feels that he is going to yield to it.
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