When King Jehoshaphat allied himself with King Ahab to take on an enemy, we get a bit of insight as to the lengths men will go to in order to convince themselves that God is on their side. Consider this scene.
2 Chronicles 18:4-7 – 4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” 5 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” 6 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” 7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
Jehoshaphat asks the King of Israel about enquiring of the Lord as to whether or not God will grant them military success. The King of Israel produces more than four hundred men claiming to be prophets of the Lord. They all say the same thing. This sounds like certain victory.
But stop and think. Jehoshaphat then asks the King of Israel if there is not even one more prophet of the Lord to ask. Why would he do that? The text does not say. But, it catches my attention. What was it about the original four hundred prophets that make Jehoshaphat want to hear from one more? Something about these men must have showed the King of Judah that they were not speaking a faithful message from God.
Now, if you follow the story to its completion, you will find that Micaiah comes and, as a true prophet of God, reveals to the kings that God will not give them victory in the battle. But the kings go on and fight anyway, leading to the death of Ahab, the King of Israel.
I think that there is a life lesson for believers right here. It is so easy for us to grow a closed mind and a dislike for those who deliver to us messages that we do not enjoy. I’m not here talking about future prophecy. Instead, I am simply thinking of those who rightly or wrongly handle the word of God. If we are honest, we can very often tell when we are being fed a line from people who want to work their way into our good graces without actually telling us the truth. The kings had four hundred men who told them exactly what they wanted to hear and claimed it to be from God. But even then, they knew deep down that there was something wrong with that message. It was the one dissenting voice that spoke the truth.
May we not fall prey to the desire to hear things our way. Instead, may we submit, not to persuasive voices saying what we like, but to the true, inspired word of God. May we submit ourselves totally to Scripture so as not to allow ourselves to be misled by those who would play on our desires.
Pastor Travis Peterson 