Don’t beat the Donkey. (part 3)

Balaam’s donkey sees the angel in the road with his sword drawn and wisely detours into a nearby field. Balaam is clueless as to the reason for donkey disobedience and whips him like a redheaded stepchild. The donkey falls in line and again runs into the angel in a narrow path where he is forced to squeeze up against a wall to avoid the angel. Unfortunately, Balaam’s foot gets trapped between the donkey and the wall. Balaam goes for round two of the donkey whacking. Both the angel and the donkey are persistent, however. The angel appears the third time in such a way that there’s no way the donkey can get around him. At this point, the donkey simply lays down under Balaam and incurs Balaam’s final PETA infraction, a third beating. Mr. Ed has had enough at this point and basically exclaims, “What did I ever do to you to deserve this triple crown of ass-whooping?” The donkey’s question is legitimate. Without realizing it, Balaam was whipping the messenger. The donkey is unaware of Balaam’s angelic blindness and thinks she is just doing her job. Here’s an aside. Ironic that God was able to “open the mouth” of a female donkey and speak prophetically through her in circa 1500 BCE, but God still struggles with being able to speak through a female person in most religious circles 3500 years later. hmm. At any rate, Balaam beats the donkey that is only guilty of trying to help him. We all do our share of donkey beating when we are faced with news we don’t really want to hear. God often uses asses to get our attention and we resent it. It’s the honest comment of an ex. It’s the co-worker or sibling who rats on us. It’s the painful truth that Kim Yazza wanted to break up with me in the 8th grade but got her friend Scotty to call me and tell me during an episode of Hee-Haw in 1978. Whatever the bad news, it’s usually not the fault of the messenger. We must not get in the habit of beating our donkeys. Sometimes they are the only people in our lives who will tell us the truth. As soon as we respond to criticism and bad news by flashing our defensive, insecure colors, we begin to silence our critics and the truth starts to disappear from our office, home, and soul. Our donkeys all get tired of getting beaten. They eventually lay down and we’re alone on our path to destruction.