The Messenger

I assure you: Whoever receives anyone I send receives Me, and the one who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
John 13:20 HCSB

Isn't this a gorgeous principal. Jesus was sent by the Father and He in turn sends us. He also sends others to us.

If we fail to discern that someone is sent by Jesus, we may treat them as unimportant or trivial, to our own loss. In the Old Testament God used a donkey to speak to Baalam. Baalam failed to see his donkey's movements were to save him from the angel sent to stop him. Baalam had in his heart to make money from some heathen kings who wanted the children of Israel destroyed. God definitely did not want them destroyed, they were His people.

The donkey was being beaten by Baalam for its strange behaviour when God opened the donkey's mouth. Scripture does not tell us Baalam was surprised by the donkey's behaviour. I know I would have been and also been very embarassed.

What does God's messengers look like? From the above you can imagine they would not look like what you expect. Jesus, Himself did not look like what the Jewish people expected, they wanted a king to set them free. They wanted one in royal robes. He lay aside His royal robes to come to earth to die for our sins.

If we are so intent on getting what we want we could well miss what God is sending our way. Not a good idea to rush headlong into what we want if a donkey (figuratively) is standing in the way. Amen!