The Customer Might Not Be Right
AM Psalm 140, 142 • PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12)
Num. 24:1-13 • Rom. 8:12-17 • Matt. 22:15-22
My husband and I once hired someone to paint the inside walls of our home. When the painter came to look at the house, he asked us what colors we’d like to use. We told him we had no idea. I don’t know why, but I’m completely inept at the art of interior décor. I can walk into someone else’s home and admire its beauty, but I have no idea how to create that beauty for myself. At least I’m famously oblivious to my surroundings, so it doesn’t really matter.
As for the painter, he came alive when given artistic freedom. He suggested a beautiful shade of green for one room. He suggested leaving one wall red in a room that the previous homeowner had painted entirely red but covering the remaining red wall with our massive bookshelves, so that just a little red peeked out the top. He suggested painting our breakfast nook and the master bathroom slightly different shades of yellow from the kitchen and master bedroom to which each was attached. This would create an effect of the smaller space seeming like a sunnier chamber relative to the larger one. We don’t live in that house anymore, but I loved it.
Bonus: my mother and mother-in-law bonded in horror that my husband and I had no opinion at all about wall colors.
In today’s reading from the book of Numbers, the seer Balaam veritably explodes with prophetic and poetic freedom, not at all beholden to his paying customer, Balak. Balak hired Balaam to curse Balak’s enemies, the Israelites. Balak had strong opinions about what he was paying the seer Balaam to say. Instead, all Balaam can do is pour out blessings as the Lord inspires him.
Balaam looks over the Israelite encampments, and the spirit of the Lord falls upon him. Balaam declares that the camped-out tribes of Israelites are like aloes and cedars planted along a river. Balaam imagines the Lord pouring out water from divine buckets onto the roots of these trees. Balaam also imagines the Lord like a wild ox, ready to gore anyone who messes with these people. The Lord crouches like a lion, and like a lioness, ready to pounce on their behalf. These people are blessed, not cursed.
Balak refuses to pay up.
What would we say, and who would we be, if we were as free as Balaam to follow inspiration?
Written by Lora Walsh
Lora is passionate about discovering the literary qualities of the Bible, praying the Ignatian examen daily, and deepening our faith through dialogue with other religious traditions. She holds a PhD in Medieval Christianity.