Rebuke


1 Kings 20:35–43
35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him.
36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.
37 Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him.
38 So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
39 And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’
40 And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.”
41 Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
42 And he said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’ ”
43 And the king of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen and came to Samaria.

A part of the human condition inherited from our first father, Adam, is the belief that I have a better idea than God. Even after God has shown grace and mercy in a situation, resolving everything in His good and perfect way, I will pick up the pieces and run ahead of Him, never even looking back to see if it’s the direction He has chosen. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Ahab had been granted dominance over his enemies by God. He can return to Samaria the victor. But instead of doing away with the enemy as he had been told, he lets him go. This was not God’s plan and again, Ahab thumbs his nose at God and runs off without even looking back to see if God approves. So, God sets up an object lesson for Ahab with the help of an unnamed prophet. With this man’s actions we see God’s displeasure at Ahab choice of disobedience. Now he will suffer the fate that should have been Ben-hadad’s, along with bringing more trouble upon the nation of Israel. Instead of returning home the victor, he goes back to Samaria “vexed and sullen”. Whenever we go our own way rather than God’s we’re going to be vexed and sullen. And chances are, we’re going to stomp our foot and blame God for our vexation.

I don’t think that we shouldn’t ever make a plan or have an idea. We are created to do so. But it might be the better part of wisdom to hold those plans up before the Lord and have them checked out first. That is where Ahab made his mistake. Of course he wasn’t really walking with God anyway, so departing from God’s plan wasn’t a stretch for him. But we, who claim to love the Lord, can be guilty of executing our own plans first rather than seeking God’s approval before we act. It is a simple but often ignored step. Ahab is going to pay a terrible price for his arrogant actions. We can look at his example and at least try to do the opposite.

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