In thirteenth-century France, legend has it that a knight left his baby boy at home guarded by his greyhound dog Guinefort. The knight returned to find chaos—the crib overturned, his son nowhere to be seen, and his hound’s mouth covered in blood. Assuming the dog had harmed his son, he killed it. Afterward, he found the body of a large snake covered in dog bites—and his son unharmed under the cradle. Guinefort had saved the baby’s life. The dog’s heroism and unjust fate so moved people that they misguidedly revered Guinefort as a saint.

Scripture records a similar incident, in which an animal was unjustly punished for protecting its owner. The prophet Balaam had been hired by the Moabite king to curse God’s people (Numbers 22:4-6). On Balaam’s journey, an “angel of the Lord . . . with a drawn sword” (v. 23) blocked his path. Balaam’s donkey, seeing the danger, avoided the angel twice—only to be beaten for his efforts (vv. 23, 25). When the donkey could no longer evade the angel, he refused to move and was again punished (vv. 26-27).

Finally, God enabled the donkey to speak and defend itself (vv. 29-30), and then He opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel and heed God’s instructions (v. 31-32).

We’re not likely to hear an animal talk back to us anytime soon, but God can still open our eyes in unexpected ways. When that happens, let’s be prepared to listen.