What is God Worth to Us?

Numbers 22:18

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more."

Some context.  Balak was the king of Moab.  He had seen how the Israelites had defeated the Amorites, and he was scared (rightfully so).    So to try to make sure that Moab did not suffer the same fate, he sought out Balaam and asked him to curse the Israelites so Moab had a chance against them.

As the verse above suggests, Balak bribed Balaam heavily to do this. Instead of blindly and immediately going, "Yes!  Give me the money, and I'll curse these fools for ya", Balaam's immediate response is to turn to God for guidance in Numbers 22:10, explaining the situation to Him.

And in the next verse, God tells Balaam not to curse the Israelites.

So Balaam straight up tells Balak, "No."  And Balak asks again, offering even more to him.  Yet as we see in verse 18 above, Balaam refuses, because there is no price that can convince him to go against God.

Balaam has his priorities in the right place.  That was very striking to me.  No amount of money could shake his allegiance to the Lord.  Even more notable because I think one of the greatest battles of this day is money versus God, and the subtle ways that we all fall prey to without fully realizing.  Very often, we will go against in God for some other reward.

But not just a monetary award.  Balak also offers to honor Balaam and perhaps even more than money, we strive for honor.  Approval.  And when it comes down to getting such approval, we will compromise what God has clearly told us.

But Balaam would not. God was of utmost importance to him, above all else, and there was nothing that Balak could offer that would shake that allegiance. And I think that's an example we could all follow.