(2Chronicles 18:1-27)

In today’s passage Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah,” Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead ?”
Jehoshaphat – the godly king said,”First seek the counsel of the Lord” (v 4)

📌 So the important issue on that day was : Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain ? (v 5b, 14)

➡️ Ahab’s 400 prophets and Zedekiah answered, “Go, the Lord will give it into the king’s hand” (v 5,10,11). These prophets were well accustomed to please Ahab rather than to seek God’s Will. And Ahab love to hear all these prophecies.

➡️ Micaiah, who was summoned to prophecy in the tune of other prophets, said that he would only speak what the Lord says (v 12-13). In other words, Micaiah would not follow / agree with those prophets. He was one who”do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” (Exodus 23:2)
And because of Micaiah’s integrity king Ahab hated him and he said,”… Micaiah never prophesies anything GOOD about me, but always BAD” (v 7, 17)

📌 It was not Ahab’s idea in the first place to seek prophetic counsel, but to his credits he rebukes Micaiah, asking for the TRUTH he dreads hearing. Micaiah, the uncompromising Steward of Truth, proclaimed God’s message to Ahab in the hearing of the assembly, and later on he was put behind the prison (v 15 -16, 18-22, 25-26)

📌 The problem of prophets who told people what they wanted to hear continued to plague both Israel and Judah and was symptomatic of how far the nations had moved from the true God. This problem remained even in NT Churches.

📝 The apostle Paul warned Timothy about teachers who would give the people”what their itching ears want to hear” (2Tim 4:3)
Today in Christendom many leaders would like to please those who are in power with selfish ambition. There are some preachers who like to please the congregation.

💕 Beloved Church, according to the first Christians, Jesus expects the church to be his holy community living according to the biblical norms rather than worldly values.
The danger for God’s people through all ages is that they so often DO NOT LIKE TO HEAR warnings and challenges from their Lord.

BE A GOOD STEWARD OF TRUTH. PLEASE GOD 🙌
Paul writes, “… if I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal 1:10)

Glory to God 🙌
✍🏽 Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳