3/26/2011 7:47:14 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time
Focus: Ahab ignores
God’s warning
Bible Reading
& Meditation
Reference: 1Kings 22:7-28
Message of the verses: “7 But
Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not yet a prophet of the LORD here that we may
inquire of him?" 8 The king of
Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire
of the LORD, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me,
but evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." But Jehoshaphat said, "Let not
the king say so." 9 Then the king
of Israel called an officer and said, "Bring quickly Micaiah son of
Imlah." 10 Now the king of Israel
and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their
robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all
the prophets were prophesying before them. 11
Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and
said, "Thus says the LORD, ’With these you will gore the Arameans until
they are consumed.’" 12 All the
prophets were prophesying thus, saying, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and
prosper, for the LORD will give it into the hand of the king." 13 Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah
spoke to him saying, "Behold now, the words of the prophets are uniformly
favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them,
and speak favorably." 14 But
Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I shall
speak."
“15 ¶ When he came to the king,
the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or
shall we refrain?" And he answered him, "Go up and succeed, and the
LORD will give it into the hand of the king." 16 Then the king said to him, "How many
times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the
LORD?" 17 So he said, "I saw
all Israel Scattered on the mountains, Like sheep which have no shepherd. And
the LORD said, ’These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in
peace.’" 18 Then the king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good
concerning me, but evil?" 19
Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD
sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right
and on His left. 20 "The LORD said,
’Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this
while another said that. 21 "Then a
spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ’I will entice him.’
22 "The LORD said to him, ’How?’
And he said, ’I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets.’ Then He said, ’You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do
so.’ 23 "Now therefore, behold, the
LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and
the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you." 24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near
and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, "How did the Spirit of the LORD
pass from me to speak to you?" 25
Micaiah said, "Behold, you shall see on that day when you enter an
inner room to hide yourself." 26
Then the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon
the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son; 27 and say, ’Thus says the king, "Put this
man in prison and feed him sparingly with bread and water until I return
safely."’" 28 Micaiah said,
"If you indeed return safely the LORD has not spoken by me." And he
said, "Listen, all you people.’”
This
is a very familiar story to me as I have read it on different occasions and it
makes me smile because there is coming an end to the story of the wicked king
Ahab, and even though he does not believe it is the end for him it is, justice
is about to be served.
There
is a mystery in this story and that is what was Jehoshaphat doing in it, for he
is a very godly king from Judah, and really has no business dealing with this
wicked king. I suppose the reason that
he is there is because of family, for his son is married to a daughter of Ahab
and Jezebel, and this will prove to be great trouble for the nation of Judah.
The
four hundred prophets that serve Ahab all tell him that it is okay to go up
against the nation of Syria, but the king of Judah wants to hear from a prophet
of the Lord, so Ahab brings out Micaiah out of prison to speak on this
issue. He is out numbered 400 to 1 and
is being pressured to go along with the others but he can’t so he gives to Ahab
two visions of what will happen and how it will come to pass. The first vision tells Ahab that he will die
in battle, while the second vision tells how it was that the Lord got Ahab to
go into battle, and here is a bit of a controversy. Micaiah tell his audience that there was a
meeting in heaven and the Lord wanted to know how He could get Ahab to go into
battle against the Syrians, and one of the spirits speaks to the Lord saying
that he would put lying words into the 400 prophets saying that the battle
would be won by Ahab. Dr. Wiersbe writes
the following: “That the God of truth
should allow a lying spirit to accomplish His work is a puzzle to some people,
but it’s no different from God permitting Satan to attack Job, or to motivate
Judas to betray Jesus. God deals with
people on the basis of their character, ‘With the pure You will show Yourself
pure; and with the devious You show Yourself shrewd’ Ps. 18:26, NKJV. Ahab was fighting against God, and like any
good boxer or wrestler, the Lord anticipated his moves and countered with the
right response. Ahab was a consummate
liar and the Lord dealt with him according to his character.” I want to point out that in a verse note on
this story that John MacArthur said that the lying spirit was Satan.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I would suppose that to a much smaller degree
I am going through a similar situation at work that Micaiah went through in
this story. By the grace of God I don’t
want to compromise my character, but stand firm in my belief and given an opportunity
I want to tell others that if they don’t want to end up like Ahab then they
have to receive the grace of God.
I
also want to realize that I am building my character, and I want it to be godly
at all times, but sadly it is not godly at all times.
I
want to provide the verses that show the test of a true prophet of the
Lord. “21 "You may say in your heart, ’How will we
know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of
the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which
the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall
not be afraid of him.” (Deu.
17:21-22)
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Give myself
to the Lord for worship and service this day.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Remember the battle is fierce and I need the
spiritual armor in place.
4.
Search me O God.
5.
Seek the Lord to direct my path this day.
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