"And THEN the donkey said....."

²⁸ Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam.
²⁹ “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”
³⁰ “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”
“No,” Balaam admitted.
³¹ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.
³² “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. ³³ Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”
Numbers 22:28-33

Balaam had made God angry by doing something God has specifically told him not to do.  But, being the stubborn person he was, Balaam decided his way was better than God's and off he went riding his donkey into the situation God had told Balaam not to go.  So....God sent an angel to stop the donkey from making the journey.  Every time the donkey saw the angel, the donkey would try to get out of the way even to the point of just stopping and laying down.  The donkey did this three times, and Balaam took his staff and beat his donkey three times.  So God decided to let the donkey have a conversation with Balaam.

Before we get into the rest of the story, if your pet began having a discussion with you about the way you treat them, how stunned would you be?  I would be speechless, probably much to my dog's amusement.  Balaam was apparently SO angry with his donkey that it never truly dawned on him that he's having a conversation with a donkey.

You see, strong emotions tend to blind us to actuality.  Strong emotions like anger, fear, grief, love all can blind us to the reality of the situation.  And so it was with Balaam.

The donkey asks Balaam, "What have I done to deserve you beating me these three times?"  After all, the donkey was apparently unaware that Balaam didn't see the angel.  But when God finally opened Balaam's eyes, and Balaam saw the truth of the situation, he was ashamed.  Especially when the angel of God demanded to know why Balaam beat his donkey these three times.

The point of this story is simple, strong emotions tend to blind us.  We must be careful and listen when others try to help us instead of verbally beating them up.