I’m glad the Lord didn’t make me a donkey (some would argue that He did, but I just ignore them. You’ve got to consider the source). Have you ever wondered what goes through a donkey’s mind? Hmmm…

The young donkey pawed restlessly at the dusty ground. Flies buzzed around him. One of his favorite games was to see if he could knock them out of the air with his tail. “Watch out! Zero at four o’clock. Get those guns to firing. There he is, get him!” Swat! Another enemy bites the dust. “Yes!”

He liked it when they bit the dust. He wasn’t so happy when they bit him. “Wonder why they tied me here?” he griped, absently scratching a horsefly bit on his leg with the opposite hoof. “Donkeys weren’t made to be tied to doors at the corner of village streets.” Out in the fields he could forage for grass and romp with his older brothers. Here he stood in the hot sun and waited.

Older donkeys carried loads or even people. He was big enough now, but he had plans for the first person who ever tried to ride him! He’d be on the ground with the swatted horseflies!

Sudden two men broke his reverie. What were they doing untying him? He had never seen them before. Were they thieves? “Hey, what are you doing there?” a few men who knew his owner challenged. “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly,” they answered.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” thought the colt. But amazingly the neighbors let him go. He plodded warily along beside them when suddenly up ahead he saw a large crowd. “What is this?”

The crowd parted and he came to a man, but there was something about this man. Donkeys can be very insightful. Our little buddy remembered his donkey lore which talked of a donkey carrying a stupid man named Balaam. The donkey saw an angel and saved the stupid man’s life by veering away from the threatening sword the heavenly being wielded.

All the donkey’s resolutions to buck the first one who tried to ride him disappeared at the sight of this man. He remembered the most famous Bible verse in all donkeydom,

“Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion! Raise the roof, Daughter Jerusalem! Your king is coming! a good king who makes all things right, a humble king riding a donkey, a mere colt of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9-10,Message).

Every donkey aspired to be the one who carried the King. Could it be? Could it be!!!

We now interrupt this heart-palpitating story for two small observations. First a question: “Why did God waste so much space in the Bible on a donkey?” I mean when you’re revealing the most important things in the universe there is a premium on what can be included. Why the donkey verses in the Old Testament (Zechariah 9) and this story in the New Testament?

I know there are a lot of theological reasons, but think about this; even donkeys are important to God. How much more important to Him are we?

And the second observation is this: This donkey was born to be where he was at that very moment in time and to do what he did. Zechariah seems to have seen this donkey in a vision 550 years before he came waltzing down the mountain towards Jerusalem, Jesus riding on his back.

He had a place in the plan of God. If even donkeys are born for a reason, what about us?

You are not here by accident. Even if your mom and dad said, “Oh no!” in unison when they found out she was pregnant with you, that changes nothing. I believe that babies are willed by God. We’re not just a product of our parent’s passion, we’re part of God’s eternal plan.

Maybe this is one of those days when you’re feeling useless, when you say, “I’m no good to anyone. I wonder why I was even born.” A little bit of advice to you: take a lesson from our donkey friend. Even if you feel like your life has been reduced to being tied to a doorpost swatting flies, you have value. There is a reason.

Just be patient and keep serving God and doing His will. Who knows Who may need a ride someday!