Prayer Journal
Friday, June 9, 2000
"A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart - he always stirs up dissension. Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy." Prov 6:12-15
"You will win the battle against Ramoth Gilead, O King", the four hundred prophets said in chorus. "The Lord will give the battle into your hands."
Ahab, the king of Israel, sought the counsel of the Lord as to whether to fight the king of Aram to recover land lost in battle. As king of Israel, Ahab knew the results of any conflict was known to the Lord, but he had little confidence that he was in the Lord's favor. So he asked his fellow king Jehoshophat of Judah, "You'll help me won't you?" , Jehoshophat replied, "Sure, if you seek the counsel of the Lord".
These 400 prophets told Ahab what he wanted to hear. Ahab knew it was probably not true as did Jehoshophat. Jehoshophat spoke up and asked, "Is there not one prophet of the Lord that will tell us the truth and not what we want to hear?" (Jehoshophat may have asked sincerely but Ahab's mind was made up to proceed anyway.)
Ahab, in an attempt to appease Jehoshophat, said, "Why, yes there is someone, but I hate him. He never prophecies anything good about me, but always bad". Well, for the "rest of the story", read 1 Kings 22.
Isn't it wonderful that this account was preserved for us? As we read of the personal humiliation and death that followed these "kings" we need to understand what caused it and understand what could have done to prevent it from happening.
The TRUTH may hurt for a moment, but FAILURE TO LISTEN TO GOD will hurt for a lifetime, ending in premature death.
"There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death." Prov 14:12; 16:25
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
