Today I was reading 1 Kings 22, which is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament. This passage is from a day gone by but so relevant for today. We live in a day where the masses seem to have their way. Most people have a hard time following the word of one as they would rather follow the words of many. We see this when it comes to the word of God; the one just isn’t enough. In 1 Kings 22 we have the story of Ahab and Jehoshaphat going to war. Jehoshaphat says to Ahab “first seek the counsel of the Lord”. So he gathers 400 prophets who all tell him the same thing, “go, for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.” Jehoshaphat knew better and said is there not a prophet of the lord we can inquire of. Ahab “answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” This is how it works in our time. Most people do not want to hear the truth of the word of God because they know they will have to change. Now Micaiah is sent for and told, “All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.” 13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.” So Micaiah comes and tells the king attack and be victorious. Now obviously since the king hates him this has happened before. Ahab says to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” So then Micaiah tells him the truth, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.” The Lord has decreed disaster for you.” The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”
This is the part of the story that gets interesting. The prophets actually thought they were speaking for God except they had a lying spirit. “And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.” In our day we have so many leaders speaking as one, telling us we are okay and giving us plans and ideas to make the church grow but they are leading us astray as what we need is to be lead into repentance so that we can turn from our wicked ways and be lead home to the Promised Land. Don’t be enticed! I find it very interesting that the words sin and repentance are rare these days. A lot of these ideas sound great and are very convincing but they do not line up with scripture. They are man made ideas and methods for building a church not being the church. We live in the day of the remnant so be very careful who you are listening to or else you may be enticed to follow the wrong path. (See Proverbs 1-9 for an interesting read on choosing the right path) We also live in a day where the sheep are scattered without a shepherd. We need to get back to follow the right shepherd. To many people have tried to make a pastor or a teacher or a leader their shepherd. As a pastor we are to point people toward Jesus not towards ourselves. We all need to be following Jesus and His word so we will know the truth. Being a Christ-follower does not always mean we will have a favorable word for those around us. It is time to stand bold once again on the word of God.
