You Can’t Trick God
Numbers 22 shows us that He looks past outward obedience and straight into the heart.
God isn’t tricked by outward compliance.
And nowhere does this truth show up better than in Numbers 22. Walk with me through one of the most wild and crazy stories in all the Bible, and what it showed me that’s highly relevant to today.
The story begins in the wilderness. God’s chosen people have been brought out of Egypt with unbelievable miracles. They’ve also strayed from Him multiple times. They are a very human (relatable) people group to be honest. Yet God keeps showing up for them, showing His power to surrounding countries who try to attack them.
They come up upon a group of people called Moab. Balak is their leader. He sees the Israelites coming and thinks, crap, they just beat up the Amorites and now we’re in their crosshairs.
So he does what any self-respecting ancient pagan king would do in his situation… He calls in a paid divination expert.
It’s a guy named Balaam.
Balak thinks that if he can pay Balaam to curse Israel, he will solve the problem of getting destroyed by them. Important context here: In ancient times, there was a belief that gods oversaw specific geographical areas.
Baal was the god of the Canaanites.
Dagon the god of the Philistines.
Chemosh the god of Moab.
So when Balak summons Balaam, Balaam basically says, “I’ll go talk to YHWH and see what I can do.”
In his mind, YHWH was the god (little G) of Israel. And gods in the ancient world were fickle as heck. They changed their minds. They accepted bribes. They fell in love with human women.
This is the understanding of gods in the ancient world and Balaam, who is paid to speak to gods, approaches YHWH with this understanding. He thinks he is going to change YHWH’s mind, bribe him, whatever he has to do to get YHWH to curse Israel.
First absolutely radical moment: God speaks to Balaam. This guy is not Jewish, not God-fearing. He’s a pagan paid divination expert to put it in modern terms.
Balaam tells him what’s up (🤣). Again, why did God ask Balaam what was going on? He knew! God asks because He wants to draw us into a conversation and relationship that reveals what’s REALLY going on in the heart.
God’s response to Balaam’s request was clear and direct.
“God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them.
You shall not curse the people for they are blessed.’” - Numbers 22: 12
The next morning Balaam reports back to Balak and his men and tells them what YHWH said. Or does he?
Very similar to the way serpent twisted what God said in the garden, Balaam doesn’t repeat God’s exact words. Instead he takes the easier way out.
Let’s throw YHWH under the bus.
“Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” - Numbers 22:13
It’s so subtle. But it’s the first indication that Balaam’s heart is in the wrong place.
He leaves out the blessing.
He leaves out the command not to curse.
He reduces it to a travel restriction: “YHWH won’t let me go.”
The result? God’s eternal covenant blessing sounds like a temporary inconvenience. What was absolute now sounds negotiable.
Why? Because Balaam was keeping his options open. ← This was the true heart posture.
What happens next is Balak tries again. He brings more noble people with him. He says to them as much as I’d like to, YHWH has my hands tied.
Convenient.
But Balaam’s heart is showing because right after that he says, okokok let me talk to YHWH again.
God…YHWH…LORD… His patience. He meets with Balaam again. This is the second incredulous moment. Why didn’t He just say be done with you?
This time God concedes to Balaam’s request. He says…
“If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.”
- Numbers 22:20
I found this interesting that God gave a different instruction this time. It wasn’t the ideal first response. Why did He do this?
To test Balaam’s heart.
The first command is His moral will—“Don’t go, don’t curse, they are blessed.” The second is a concession—God gives Balaam enough rope to reveal his heart.
YHWH did this in the wilderness with the Israelites too. When they were complaining about the manna, He gave them quail. So much quail it made them sick. It was a moment of giving them over to their desires to show the end result.
Balaam is like sweet. Now I can go get the money. I can have my cake and eat it too.
What happened next?
God got angry.
Outwardly Balaam was compliant. Inwardly, his heart was not okay. He was double hearted.
This is the crux of the matter. OUTWARD posture is not God’s primary concern. INWARD is. This will become important in a minute.
The next scene is humorous, terrifying, and ironic. Balaam is riding on a donkey to go supposedly do what YHWH says, and an angel of the LORD appears in the path.
The “paid for hire” divination expert can’t see it, but guess who can?
THE DONKEY.
The donkey sees this angel, is terrified, and goes into a field.
Balaam is pissed and beats the donkey.
This happens two more times, each time the angel of the LORD narrowing the path so the donkey has nowhere to go.
The irony is that the humble “dumb” donkey is discerning more clearly what’s happening spiritually than the one who is supposed to be spiritual.
Let’s just stop here for a minute and take in the fact that YHWH is even putting up with a pagan double hearted divination expert.
And then marvel that God reveals the spiritual reality to a donkey.
He opens the donkey’s mouth and donkey speaks to Balaam. 😳
v. 28
“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?’”
v. 29
And Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.’
v. 30
And the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’
What a reasonable donkey. 😅
God has taken the foolish things of the world to put the “seer” to shame. Even in that irony, God is sparing Balaam’s life.
At that moment Balaam’s eyes are opened and he sees what the donkey sees. He drops to his knees and confesses (though it is obvious that he is not fully transformed).
The donkey (and YHWH) have saved his life. He now knows that he must only speak what God tells him.
God doesn’t measure outward behavior and compliance. He looks at the heart. He always has.
Balaam goes on to give several oracles to and about Israel, some of the most stunning in all of the Torah.
He prophesies about Israel → Israel (as a nation) cannot be cursed—they are irrevocably blessed. Not because they are good or perfect, but because YHWH is steadfast to His word. This does not mean that each Jewish person must be accountable to God (they must) or that we agree with everything Israel does without question.
He prophesies about Jesus. → A star and a scepter will rise from Jacob.
He prophesies about the end of the age. → Nations will be subdued; history will bend toward Israel’s King… who is Jesus.
Just absolutely stunning.
Even when His messenger is corrupt, God’s word stands uncorrupted. Even through a pagan sorcerer, God declares Messiah and the end of the age.
It’s quite the story, but here’s the 2025 message that came whispering through the scripture I read this morning.
God used Balaam powerfully, but the rest of Scripture paints him as lost, not saved. After all the lofty oracles, he still led Israel into sin. Balaam never fully turned.
God can use even the most compromised vessels to proclaim His truth. But being used by God doesn’t equal belonging to Him.
Gulp.
Balaam loved money, honor, and compromise more than YHWH.
There are people today who can move in real spiritual power, even speak true words from God, but whose hearts are far from Him. There’s a difference between intimacy with God and outward compliance. God is not tricked.
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name… and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.’”
-Matthew 7:22-23
The loudest prophet. The most pious religious person. The perfect image Christian. The noble and good sounding guru.
Don’t be fooled. Not by others, or by your own loopholes and mental gymnastics. YHWH is not tricked.
Balaam’s story is sobering and stunning in its mercy.
We are only safe in God by trusting in His gift of forgiveness through Jesus. That’s the sobering reality that every human being on Earth must contend with. Obedience and good works outwardly do not mean a heart is right with God. Even Balaam’s supposed compliance wasn’t truly the right move.
That is sobering but there is mercy too…
If God will patiently deal with a pagan paid seer who thought he could trick God into going against His covenant with Israel, He is patient to deal with you too. He will show up if you call on Him.
And has proven He will use anything, even a talking donkey, to get your attention.
xx