You can always turn your ass around. (part 4)

Balaam blew it. He disobeyed God. He went in a direction that the shouldn’t have. He couldn’t even see the angel God sent. And then he beat the donkey who was trying to save his life. Fortunately, the story doesn’t end here. Here’s the final verse of the passage quoted earlier from Numbers: “Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back.” (22:34)

Balaam comes face to face with his predicament. He has sufficiently become humbled by an invisible angel with a sword and a talking donkey. His “sin is ever before him” as David says in Psalm 53. Balaam doesn’t go the way of some Biblical characters when confronted with their mistakes. Saul continued in his rebellion and the Lord’s spirit left him. Peter avoided Jesus until the risen Christ busted him out on his denial. Judas Iscariot hung himself. Balaam simply admitted his mistake and asked if it was okay if he repented and turned back. The final lesson of the Balaam/donkey story is that we can always turn our ass around. Turning back doesn’t undo the stupid things we do. It doesn’t mean we are instantly back in the place where we were when we first headed down the wrong path. It doesn’t save us the shame that we face by admitting we were wrong. It doesn’t save us the pain of remembering the days or years we wasted as we head back the right direction. But it does mean that we follow a God of 7th chances. Three angels appearances and three donkey beatings, and yet God doesn’t give up on Balaam. And doesn’t give up on you and me. We may suck but we can change. The book is not finished yet. God can shake your etch-a-sketch clean and you can draw again with a clean slate. This is the good news. There is hope, there is forgiveness, there is a new day. Even if it takes a divine donkey to get us there.