Numbers 22:28-30 “Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" (29) And Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!" (30) So, the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?" And he said, "No.”
The second class of God’s creations that we will discuss are the living creatures, i.e. animals. It may sound strange but these creatures also have a free will given to them by God. Anyone who has ever been involved in taming a wild animal can attest to this fact. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit allows us to see the Lord’s living creatures as they really are. The example we are given in this passage is that of a donkey, nevertheless what is revealed in this passage pertains to all of the Lord’s living creatures. The context of this passage is that God had sent His angel to kill Balaam with his sword as Balaam rode past on his donkey. God allowed the donkey to see the angel standing in the roadway and she recognised that the angel was about to kill her master, and so she kept Balaam out of harms way. This happened three times, but because Balaam didn’t see the angel he just assumed that his donkey was being stubborn and so he struck her repeatedly. I want you to notice from this passage that our Lord only opened the mouth of the donkey by allowing her to speak with a human voice (2 Peter 2:16). In other words God did not speak through the donkey and neither did God put the words into her mouth, but rather she spoke for herself. One of the things she asked of Balaam was whether she had ever been disposed to behaving in the way that she did on that occasion. Clearly she had acted out of her own free will in saving Balaam’s life from the angel that was ready to kill him. Before that time she had always submitted her will to Balaam and been obedient to do all he required of her. And so the donkey’s comment gives us some insight regarding the free wills of God’s living creatures. Although they have a free will they recognise that God has created them to serve mankind, because of which they submit their wills to the will of man.
Job 39:9 “Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?”
Not all living creatures are designed by God to serve men however, hence the difficulty that men experience in trying to tame wild animals. The context of the passage of scripture quoted above is that God was speaking to Job about the various animals that He had created. In His discourse with Job, God mentioned that the wild ox of its own free will would not be willing to serve men. Clearly God has given the wild ox a will of its own. And so because that animal recognises that God has created it to roam free in the wild, it’s natural response to mankind as an act of its free will, is to resist any attempt by mankind to tame it. That same truth is applicable to every wild animal that God has created i.e. they all recognise that God created them to roam free in the wild, and so as an act of their free wills they resist any attempt by mankind to try tame them.
Romans 8:20 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope.”
God has given mankind dominion over all living creatures on the earth (Genesis 1:2). And so because all living creatures recognise the authority that God has given to men they submit their wills to the will of man. Even the wild animals recognise that they have to obey the will of men, which is why some are eventually tamed. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden however they did so against the will of the Lord’s living creatures, for in the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that creation was subjected to futility against their will. In other words because they recognised man’s God given authority, the living creatures continued to submit their wills to men, but from that point on they no longer did so willingly. Clearly from this passage we can see that all of God’s creatures have a free will, and that they choose to exercise their free wills in accordance with the will of God as their creator.
Michael E.B. Maher
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