Loving the Lie
I have been reading through 1 Kings...
As Christians it is important for us to read through the Old Testament...it gives us thousands of years of covenantal life...showing us both the faithful and the unfaithful.
We can learn much...we can learn what to do...and what not to do.
Today I was reading 1 Kings 22...
...King Ahab was a very wicked man...he wanted to promote his own agenda...no matter what.
He gathered to himself advisers...we would call them..."Yes men".
They were false prophets...men who were very sly...men who could quickly discern where the kings heart "wanted" to go...and then encouraged him in that direction.
Anyone who spoke the truth to Ahab...was hated by Ahab.
And Ahab viewed their speaking of the truth as hatred...not love.
As we look at Ahab's life we need to beware of his sin in our own lives.
Ahab loved the lie...he wanted to have his itching ears tickled with falsehood.
Ahab wanted to go to battle, he wanted Jehoshaphat, king of Judah to help him in battle.
Jehoshaphat wanted some advise on whether they should go fight...or not.
Ahab had the right advise...it was on his payroll.
All of Ahab's prophets said..."you da man, go and fight and you will win"!
Jehoshaphat wasn't convinced...he wanted to know if a prophet "of the Lord" wasn't kickin around somewhere in the vacinity.
Ahab says there was such a man...but Ahab hated him...because he always prophesied evil concerning the king...this was because the king had set his heart on evil continually.
Jehoshaphat persists...and they call for Micaiah.
As one of the kings servants is bringing back the true prophet he thought that he would prepare this new messengers mouth...so that it pleased the kings ears.
In so many words he told Micaiah that all the other guys are encouraging the king to go and fight...do likewise.
As Micaiah stands in the presence of the king the king asks whether he should go and fight or not.
Micaiah answers and tells him to go fight and prosper [whether his words dripped with sarcasm we know not].
Now observe carefully...and may this alert you to the deceitfulness of the human heart.
Ahab answers the prophet, "How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord".
The king knew the truth...he just didn't want to live by it.
Then Micaiah tells him that if you go and fight you will die, God will be gunning for you.
Ahab rewards the telling of the truth with a prison sentence.
He knew the truth...he knew the lie...and he willfully chose the lie...how fearful.
posted by Dale Callahan at 6:10 AM
1 Comments:
Right on, Dale. Like Stephen, the first recorded Christian martyr, whom we touched on today in Sunday School. Man, he was pushing buttons. What was the one thing that drove the Pharisees nuts about Stephen? What was the one thing he kept doing that drove them mad? Acts 7 records Stephens history lesson of how through the ages God had judged people who committed the very kinds of acts the Pharisees were committing now. "As your fathers did, so do you". They were "enraged" at him, and so stoned him. The truth was too painful to hear and they, too, opted for the fearful.
I think it's because the truth comes to us and is often regulative. It boxes us in and limits our lives as it convicts us when all we really want is to be left entirely alone and away from the Regulator. I think in the end that comes to one of two ends; one is called repentance and the other is called Hell.
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