| I Kings 22:1-53; Acts 13:16-41; Psalm 138:1-8; Proverbs 17:17-18
“But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Isn’t there a prophet of God here anymore? Let’s ask him.'” (I Kings 22:7)
There are a lot of voices in the world that will tell you what you want to hear. Sometimes what we want to hear and what we need to hear are two different things. The Word of the Lord isn’t always easy on the ears but it is always what is best for us. Jehoshaphat heard the 400 prophets answer Ahab in the affirmative concerning going to war. The king of Judah did not discern the Word of God from any of them. He asked Ahab if there were any true prophets in town. These others did not have the Word of the Lord and although the thought of going into battle and succeeding sounded great, it wasn’t necessarily the truth. King Jehoshaphat wasn’t willing to risk his life on the word of the majority, he wanted to hear from God.
There was a true prophet, but Ahab didn’t want to call Micaiah because he felt that he always spoke bad news to him. This is the thing, would you rather have someone pat you on the head and tell you what you want or would you rather get the word that you need. Sometimes it’s offensive to be told the truth.
Sometimes our behaviors or decisions need to be addressed with truth. If I’m going to war, or if I’m facing a serious situation, I don’t want someone patting me on the back telling me everything is going to be alright when they don’t have any Jesus on tap. They are setting me up to lose my life, or failure.
King Ahab just wanted yes men who would tell him what he wanted to hear. He was spoiled and didn’t like to hear the word no. Just look at his history. So of course anytime the man of God brought a word of correction to him from the Lord, or a word that was different from what he wanted to hear, then he felt like it was a personal attack. He felt like the man of God was zoning in on just him because he didn’t like him. Amazing how our little minds can twist things around. The prophet of God is like, “Hey bud, I’m trying to save your life. Listen to your prophets then. Go out there, fight. But I’m telling you that you’re gonna lose your life because that’s how the Lord said it would go down.”
Despite the Word of God, Ahab went to war. He thought he could escape by going into battle disguised but they still got him. We cannot escape or alter a word from the Lord. Simple obedience would have allowed King Ahab to live another day.
PRAYER:
Father, I ask You to train my ears to hear Your voice. I pray to develop obedience in my life so that I be in Your perfect will. I want the Word of the Lord. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. |
