Why was God’s anger kindled? Hadn’t He told Balaam to go? When, like Balaam, we beg and insist on our own way, God might say, “Okay.” But it’s not necessarily His plan or His will.

If you’re a parent, you will sometimes let your kids go the way they insist on going, even though you know there will be needless pain and heartache down the road. Sometimes God will do the same with His children. That’s why the “name-it-and-claim-it” movement is so frightening to me. I don’t want to name and claim anything God knows isn’t best for me. I want to pray like Jesus: “Father, . . . not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).