“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?’”
The story of Balaam and his donkey is one of those stories we read and maybe miss the point. We see this dialogue between Balaam and his donkey; we see Balaam only being able to pronounce blessing upon Israel but is that all we see? So let me ask you this, “Why did the donkey answer Balaam the way she did?”

The donkey says to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 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.” 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?”

Why did the donkey answer Balaam this way? Why wasn’t there any mention of the angel? Why didn’t she just say: “There was an angel in the roadway and he was going to kill us if I kept going?” After all if you’re a talking donkey why wouldn’t you get to the point? Yet in this conversation the angel was never mentioned… why?

It was the L-RD who opened the mouth of the donkey and the donkey spoke what the L-RD wanted her to speak; why those words though; what was He trying to say? G-D has at times spoken through many things; a burning bush, a cloud, a pillar of fire, thunder, man, and now He speaks through a donkey. What is the message G-D is trying to tell us in this story? May I suggest, may I offer this answer?

When you are going down the road of life and all of a sudden you find yourself off in a field somewhere or you find yourself between a rock and a hard place being hard pressed and finally you find your self at a complete stand still and you start to beat your donkey, you start to question G-D saying, “why have you done this to me; why have you let this happen to me?”

G-D says to you, he says to me “Have I not always been there for you, have I ever done anything that was not in the very best interest for you, then why do you question what I am doing now? Yes you may feel squeezed, you may even feel a little off course but you have to trust Me on this one as well.”

When that Moses, of yours, whatever that might be, has died, hear the words He spoke to Joshua, “I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” When you feel like a captive to your situation remember what Ha’Shem said to His children through Jeremiah “I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the L-RD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”