Riding Your Own Donkey

In July, 2007 Pastor Dan Scott preached a sermon by this title at Christ Church Nashville. I was in the congregation that day. It had an impact on me. For some reason it has been on my mind again lately, so I thought I would share some thoughts about it today.
In Numbers 20 we find the account of Balaam, his donkey and the King of Moab. Balaam is a prophet of God who is asked by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites. I always wonder why Balaam even considered this proposition from the king, but I guess, being human, when monetary gain is involved, we tend to lose perspective. In the end, Balaam's donkey, who seems to be better in tune spiritually than Balaam, brings him to his senses.
Pastor Dan remarks that in the Bible the donkey represents human nature. Unless and until we learn to tame that human nature (which gets twisted by sin), we cannot get where we need to go and will end up going the wrong way.
The Bible gives us this silly picture of Balaam and his donkey to show us how foolish we look to God when we allow our donkey (human nature) to take control of our lives.
The scripture basis of the sermon was 2 Timothy 2:1-7. In Pastor Dan's words, "Paul is saying to Timothy, “Ride your own donkey. Stay focused. Stay with it until you see it through. Don’t let others ride your donkey and don’t allow your donkey to ride you.” He says this is one of the most important lessons we need to learn. The remainder of the sermon focuses on three points of learning how to ride your own donkey:
1. Understand who you are (Knowing yourself is about knowing where, when and how you must work in order to do what God has called you to do. You have to ride your own donkey instead of trying to ride someone else’s donkey. David would not have killed Goliath had he chosen to wear Saul’s armor. )
2. Understand what you are to do (Vocation vs Occupation)
3. Understand what you are to become (If we are to do anything significant in life, we cannot refuse those moments in which we are called to declare ourselves. We must consciously take on the roles we believe we are called to perform)
(If anyone is interested enough I have an audio and text copy of the entire message)
Shortly after I heard this sermon, I had the opportunity to share it with two people. One was a mother of three young boys who had been very active in their Christian school, which had just closed down. They were now going to a school where her active involvement was not an option. She felt like she had lost her purpose. After sharing this with her, she felt empowered to "ride her own donkey" to pursue activities she loved, her vocation, as it were.
I also shared it with a Regent University student who was struggling with the direction of her life. After hearing this, she had a renewed enthusiasm that she was going in the right direction, riding her own donkey.
Again I ask myself why is this message coming to mind at this time in my life? Maybe because I have been too focused on my own medical issues, that I have not been riding my own donkey. But somehow I do not think that is the case. Because what is exciting and empowering to me about my faith is to encourage others. My situation has allowed me to do that again in a more powerful way. I think I have more compassion and empathy because of what I have been through.
There were times in my life, I did not ride my own donkey - I was too busy trying to please others and perhaps riding their donkeys. But not anymore.
Are you riding your own donkey?