Time of Grace


1 Kings 20:22-34
22 Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you.”
23 And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
24 And do this: remove the kings, each from his post, and put commanders in their places,
25 and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.
26 In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27 And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country.
28 And a man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”
29 And they encamped opposite one another seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined. And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.
30 And the rest fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. Ben-hadad also fled and entered an inner chamber in the city.
31 And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”
32 So they tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me live.’ ” And he said, “Does he still live? He is my brother.”
33 Now the men were watching for a sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
34 And Ben-hadad said to him, “The cities that my father took from your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

Right now, I am not so patiently awaiting the birth of my first granddaughter (4th grandchild) and time seems to be crawling by as a very slow pace. But by the same token, this summer seems to be flying by so very quickly! What a strange thing time is. God is of course the Creator of time. He set that second hand into relentless motion and it has not stopped moving forward ever since. Every human being falls under time’s control in some way. Even Jesus had a measured number of years on the planet. Martin Luther saw time as a tool in the hands of God. He called every person’s time on the earth as their “time of grace”; that period of where they could be saved by the love of God through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Ahab was granted numerous “times of grace” as God shows him over and over that He is indeed the Lord of All and should receive Ahab’s devotion and faithfulness. Today’s reading shows yet another time when Ahab had weeks and months to think about the events in his life and realize that God was fully in control of everything. Between the two attacks of Ben-hadad, Ahab had time to put two and two together and come up with four. Sadly, he wastes that time and once again, God is denied by Ahab.

We too have our “time of grace” where God seeks to bring us to faith and to draw us into a closer and closer walk with Him. How we use that time is up to us. We can use it to honor Him and serve Him or we can go our own way and waste this non-renewable resource.

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