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How
Specific
(Continued from page 16)
Testament Paul described as be–
ing recorded and preserved for
our instruction ill ustrates the
very ques tion of how specific God
has to be.
It
is the little under–
stood story of Balaam.
See What Balaam Dld
Balaam was a prophet who lived
at the time t he chi ldren of Israel
were preparing to enter t he
Promised Land. Balak, a local
king of Moab, d idn' t want Israel
as his neighbor. So he sent sorne
messengers to try to hire Balaam
to come and cast a curse on the
Israelí tes.
Balaam dear ly wanted to ac–
cept t he reward from Balak and
curse Israel. There was only one
problem: God specifically forbade
him to do it. " Thou shalt not
curse the people: for they are
blessed" (Numbers 22: 12).
That should have been that.
Balaam should have refused to
hear any more from Balak's mes–
sengers. Now knowing God's will
in the matter, he should h ave
gone out of his way to support
God's decis ion. He should have
stayed as far as possible from the
edge of the cliff.
But no, Balaam coveted the
reward in the same way most
moderns do what they very well
want to do. Balaam reluctantly
told Ba lak 's messengers "The
Lord refuseth to g ive me leave to
go with you" (verse 13). " But
J
surely would like to" is to be
understood.
Well, Balak sent messengers of
greater importance to try to con–
vince Balaam. Notice Balaam's
attitude in verse 18: " 1f Balak
would give me his house full of
si lver an d gold, 1 cannot go
beyond the word of the Lord my
God, to do less or more." 1n other
words, he asserted that he would
only do what God specifically,
explicit ly commanded him, noth–
ing more, nothing less. And God
had specifically commanded him
not to curse Is rael. Nevertheless,
26
as verse 19 shows, he tried to talk
God into changing even His spe–
cific command.
The story goes on for the next
two chapters, Balaam g rudgingly
doing only what God specifically
and directly commanded and yet
trying all the while to get around
having to limit himself and lose a
fi nancial reward. " All that t he
Lord speaketh [clear, prec ise
commands]. that 1
must
do"
(chapter 23:26). " 1 cannot go
beyond t he commandment of the
Lord , to do either good or bad"
(chapter 24:13) .
ln spite of even God's plain,
directly spoken commands, Ba–
laam's attitude was "My question
still is, 'why not ...?' "
Why not take t he coveted
~~
God inspired the
preservation of one
volume- the Bible.
..
That one single volume
is all that is needed to
know how to please God.
' '
reward? Why not do what 1 want
to do instead whenever God does
not tell me what to do in specific
terms? 1'11 do what God says only
if expressed in language legally
air tight and free of all possible
loopholes, and impossible to rea–
son around?
Why not observe Easter? Why
not eat ham?
The Bible condemns Balaam's
method of carnal reasoni ng ( Jude
11 ).
The Right Approach
How should we use the Scrip–
tures to choose the right course of
act ion in any given situat ion?
Fi rst decide what t he question
is. T hen, look into the Bible for
direct commands-also for exam–
ples, indications, implicat ions,
clues-anything that reflects
God's t houghts on t he subject.
lnstead of only asking, " Why
not?," also ask " Why?" Our lives
should not be guided by apparent
absence of instructions. We sbould
have a sound reason for doing wbat
we do (1Peter 3: 15) .
Attitude is very important.
One mus t have a fear of doing
wrong. Such a fear is essential to
t he abi lity to make right deci–
s ions. "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom" (Psalm
111 :10).
Earnestly desi re to do what
God commands-and also what
He s uggests and even h ints
should be done. After all , He is
Lord of heaven and earth, t he
Supreme Ruler.
l f you are not able to come to a
clear conclusion as to what t he
Bible says on a matter, always
give God the benefit of a doubt .
Better safe than sorry. It cannot
be overly emphasized that true
Christianity is a way of life, a way
of thinking-a matter of being
open and recept ive to the way
God looks at things, the way He
thinks about things.
In the World T omorrow David
will be made king over all the
tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 37:24).
What attitude did he have that he
can be entrusted wíth such an
exalted and powerful position?
David never argued with the
A lmighty. He loved and re–
spected God's specific laws, com–
ma ndments, statu tes and judg–
ments (Psalm 19:7-1 0). But more
tha n that, he loved
al/
God's
precepts, His testimonies and His
words ( Psalm 119:99,103, 128).
Ves, he exclaimed, " How pre–
cious also are thy
choughts
unto
me, O God!" (Psalm 139:1 7 .)
David's attitude showed wbere
his hear t was. He was not seeking
loopholes. He did not try to
rational ize and find excuses. His
mind was open to the faintest
suggest ion or hint of what God
wanted . Lis ten · to the confident
testimony of God Himself: " 1
have found David ... a man after
mine own heart, which shall fulfil
al/
my will " (Acts 13:22) .
How specific does God have to
be to you? o
The
PLAIN TRUTH