“When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” (NIV) Numbers 22:27-29

I do not know how you will feel if one morning your favorite pet (for those of us who may have one) meets you with ‘hello’ and probably asks about your plans for the day. For me, I think I will be dazed for a moment and maybe respond anyway. After all who will believe me if I told them? To others maybe it will be categorized under total grotesqueness. However, God being sovereign over all things acts beyond the natural to achieve His purpose.

The prophet Balaam attempting to resist the will of the Lord veered towards amassing sordid gain. This makes the Lord angry and thus intercepts the traveling prophet. In Balaam’s pursue and blindness he gets angry and unjustly vents his rage on his donkey. It appears he even forgot that he was in conversation with a mere brute. Additionally, Balaam indirectly passes his own judgment by threatening his donkey. He felt the donkey had made mockery of him.

Sometimes we get angry because we are in the wrong. And this may cause us to be blind to reality. We may act untowardly and this could lead to our own destruction or the unfair destruction of others.

Again, it has been the nature of man to be unfair to God. We get angry for being mocked and yet we mock God daily (though God cannot be mocked Gal. 6:7) through sin and disobedience. Untamed and unrighteous anger never sweeps away without causing some havoc. And obviously since our intentions are prior to our actions, angry thoughts amount to murder according to the Lord Jesus (Matt. 5:21-22). Therefore, angry threats do not edify our fellow humans.

Lastly, anger can cause immense embarrassment. We act irately about matters in our daily lives that are uncalled-for; and only to be alerted on what the matter really is.

We can avoid anger and thus become a blessing to ourselves, neighbors and even to nature at large.

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