The Lesson from Balaam
It’s a strange story. Balaam was a prophet and G‑d gave him the power to curse. Balak, the King of Moab, sends messengers to him, asking him to come to him and curse the Jewish people.
Now, Balaam hated the Jews and wanted to curse them, but realized that his curse could only be effective if G‑d consented. He therefore consulted G‑d, hoping that G‑d will let him go with Balak’s messengers, but G‑d refused.
He asked Him: “Can I curse them from here?” G‑d told him “no.”
“Should I bless them?” Again, the answer was “no.”
Balak sent a second group of messengers and Balak asks G‑d again. Now, is G‑d so fickle? If He was going to let Balaam go, why didn’t He let him go the first time he asked?
The story continues. Balaam comes to Balak and on three separate occasions tries to curse the Jews. Nevertheless, each time, he is forced to do the very opposite, conveying generous blessings upon them.
Aligning Ourselves with G-d’s Will
So, why did G‑d change His mind so many times? And what are the lessons we can learn from this in our daily conduct?
The story is a lesson about aligning ourselves with G‑d’s will. There are many times when we have our own desires, things that we know are not in accordance with G‑d’s will.
Just like Balaam knew G‑d would not curse the Jews, we know these behaviors are unacceptable. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to sneak them through. Maybe G‑d will let it go by just this once?
Then we get an answer. G‑d has His ways of informing us of what He wants. And we clearly understand His answer: “this is not My intent.” But that doesn’t stop us. We persist; we want to do what we want to do.
Go Ahead
So G‑d responds like He did to Balaam. As our Sages say: “in the way a person wants to go, he is led.” Instead, of the person becoming sensitive to G‑d’s will and modifying his conduct accordingly, he becomes set in his ways and resistant to change. G‑d, as it were, says, “okay, if this is what you want to do, go ahead, I’m not going to stop you.”
Does G‑d want him to continue what he is doing? No, but how many times does He have to let the person know that He is not in favor of what he is doing. After a while, He just lets the person do what he wants.
Will the person be successful? Ultimately, of course not. Like Balaam, he may have the opportunity to try to do what he wants for a while. In the long run, however, G‑d will have His way.
Each Person’s Divine Purpose
Now if that’s true in the long run, why should we wait for the long run? Why not simply take the cue from the outset and align ourselves with His will initially?
Ultimately, we are put in this world to deliver blessings not a curse, i.e., there is a specific Divine purpose for each one of us to fulfill.
Eventually, each one of us will bring that purpose to fulfillment like Balaam uttered his blessings. The question is, will we identify with that purpose and fulfill it willingly and happily?
Based on the teachings of the Rebbe, Keeping in Touch, reprinted with permission from Sichos in English. From our Sages reprinted from LchaimWeekly.org - LYO / NYC
