In life, there will be roadblocks. It's very rare for us to reach a barrier, or even a detour, and feel hopeful. To be forced stop, or to take a new direction causes frustration and maybe even fear. Immediately we feel that the alternate path will be inconvenient (at best) and impossible (at worst).
This could be a lesson about how the scenic route it often worth the extra time and effort, as long as God leads the way... but instead let's talk about the three roadblocks themselves, specifically, the roadblocks that take place in these two chapters of the book of Numbers.
CAANANITE KING Numbers 21:1-3; 21-33
"The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners."
The Israelites reached a roadblock in their journey through the wilderness toward the Promised Land: a kingdom, an organized army. The were a band of former slaves, the smallest of the nations, (Deuteronomy 7:7). The Israelites had just recently been deterred: they were denied passage by the king of Edom. Though they promised to be polite and nonintrusive travelers, the only promise they received in return was that they would meet Edom's sword if they tried.
So Israel turned away from them, the roadblock changed their course. They had to take an alternate route, and it pointed to a place called Arad. Unlike the king of Edom, the king of Arad did not even give Israel a chance to ask for passage. As soon as the king was informed that Israel approached, he attacked and captured some as prisoners.
At this point, the Israelite's and their journey met defeat. We can all empathize with how they must have felt. We can all relate to it. We can relate to the moment when our good intentions and steadfast effort is blocked due to circumstances out of our control. And those circumstances are often unfair, unreasonable and unnecessary. If we let it, the roadblock can extinguish our hope. And it's extremely difficult to move forward without hope.
Rather than accept defeat, the Israelites rallied in faith. They vowed to God that if He would secure their victory, they would do a complete job at manifesting His will. God accepted their vow; and with His support, the enemy was defeated and the roadblock was torn down. They way became clear.
Can we not promise God the same when we reach a roadblock? In Deuteronomy 9:4-5 God explained that the nations Israel would continue on to defeat were defeated because of their corruption. We can rely on God to tear down our roadblocks not because we are better than others but because we have committed to His will. It would benefit us to think about this scripture as we stand before roadblocks in our own lives. It would benefit us to make a vow to God: God, if you help me travel from this place, through this barrier, I will convert the place beyond it into an altar for you.
Because that should be our intention with everything that we do! Every job that we take. Every friend that we make. Every child we raise. Every word that we say. In everything that we do, our intention should be to make that 'place' one that is worthy of God's habitation. Israel promised to enter those cities and rid them of corruption. When our intention is to help earth evolve to be more like the Kingdom of God, we will prosper.
Their vow was selfless and productive. God has a unique way of blessing us. When we focus our whole attention and heart on the Kingdom of God and prospering it, He focuses His whole attention and heart on us and prospering us (Matthew 6:33). When we stay focused on what is in our control, He focuses on what is out of our control. And the truth is, not much is in our control. But we can control our behavior and our words. We can control where we focus our sight, heart and hands here on earth. So direct your sight, heart, and hands toward the establishment of God's will here in earth, in your little corner of earth, and let Him take control over everything else, including the roadblocks.
Their vow was faithful; they did not ask God if He could destroy their roadblock; they asked if He would.
THE MOABITE KING Numbers 22:1-21
“... Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! 6 Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land,..."
Do we praise God enough, or at all, for the roadblocks He busts before we reach them? The roadblocks we are unaware exist because He has made them irrelevant by the time we reach them?
The Israelites moved toward Moab. The king of Moab, named Balak, panicked! Unlike the previous kings, he was intimidated by the horde of people as they approached. Too afraid to fight them, too unreasonable to let them pass peacefully, he planned to sabotage them. To curse them.
Balak made a plan. He offered to pay, handsomely, for Israel to be cursed. He met with a man named Balaam, known, apparently, for His ability to divine God's will. Balak misunderstood Balaam's gift. He thought that Balaam had the ability to bless and curse. But only God has that ability, and all Balaam could do was divine God's decisions as to who would be blessed and who would be cursed.
All of this took place without the Israelites awareness. It was a concrete roadblock; they approached a third king that had zero intention to allow their passage. But Balaam listened to God and relayed the message to Balak: God refused to curse Israel. Instead, He blessed them. Balak did not accept that answer. He sent people of higher rank and with more money to try to convince Balaam to curse Israel. Wisely, Balaam answered:
"If [you] were to give me [your] house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the command of the Lord my God to do anything small or great."
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit who distributes them (1 Corinthians 12:4). Wherever you excel at life with the gift God gave you, there is always a chance that you will intimidate someone... even from afar. And their intimidation might be malicious. We may be oblivious to these unseen roadblocks, but we are not more vulnerable to them, because they are within God's line of sight and control. God looks at the inward heart (1 Samuel 16:7) and He is able to halt the malicious ones. That does not mean that we will never have tribulation; we will. Jesus told us that, (John 16:33). In the world you will have trouble, but Jesus has overcome the world. So trust that God will render irrelevant the roadblocks, the curses, the plots against you that will not prosper you. The ones you would not have been able to get through. Trust that He will prosper you through the plots that will build your character, through the ones you can handle (1 Peter 5:10; 1 Corinthians 10:13) with Him.
THE DONKEY AND THE ANGEL Numbers 22:22-41
"Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me."
Lastly, sometimes God is the roadblock.
Balaam saddled his donkey; he had permission from God to travel with the king of Moab's officials. But, if he chose to travel with them, it had to be as a spokesperson for God and not for any other reason. So Balaam rode his donkey until suddenly, she turned off of the path. She saw the angel of the Lord, a roadblock in the path, and changed her course. Annoyed, Balaam hit her. They continued on. Further along the way, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord between two stone walls; she halted, retreated and inadvertently crushed Balaam's foot against a wall. Frustrated, Balaam hit her. A third time, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord in a narrow pass and she crouched. Now incensed, Balaam beat his donkey and threatened to kill her.
It was then that the angel of the Lord appeared to Balaam... standing in the path, in the way, as a roadblock. The angel asked Balaam why he hit his donkey. The donkey tried to help Balaam, for Balaam was not on the path God approved. His intentions were not right. Balaam was supposed to be spokesperson for God, but he must have daydreamed about all of gold he could gain from the king instead. The angel told Balaam that God opposed the path because it was perverse. And to his credit, Balaam repented. He told the angel that he had sinned and that he would turn back.
Sometimes our path, our plan, our dream is blocked because God rejects it. Out of love, he halts our donkey. Because sometimes (often) we do not listen. We become so focused on obtaining something we want that we forget to ask God if He wants it for us. And because we will not stop, He has to get our attention. He stands in the way; He forces us to redirect our course or even stop altogether. Sometimes the Lord crushes our foot against a wall, so to speak, to stop us from further error.
Build a relationship with God so that you will be able to discern between the roadblock that is His disapproval and the roadblock that is constructed by our enemy. Because you can pray through the enemy's obstruction; you can make a vow like the Israelites did and pass right through it with God's help. But even if you manage to get past God's roadblock, there's nothing there for you beyond it. If God had not blocked Balaam... he may have become a rich man, but he would have thrown away the opportunity to work directly with God! And what does it profit a person to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul (Mark 8:36)?
You do not want to in the place God blocks you from. If you love the Lord and consult Him in all of your movements, you will be able to figure out which roadblocks you can destroy with prayer and which ones are meant to stay in place and protect you.