1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalms 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18
Today is the 20th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you today, it’s great to be here with you any day, it’s great to be here with you every day as we gather around the Global Campfire and find a place, exhale, relax, take the next step forward together. That next step certainly leads us back into the book of first Kings, where we are getting to know the kings of Israel in the North and the kings of Judah in the south, now that, now that the children of Israel have broken apart into two different nations. We are also dealing with different prophets in this time, Elisha, in particular, and we’ve met Elisha and will get to know Elisha a lot better as we continue the journey but for today, first Kings chapter 22.
Commentary:
Okay so, we have a fascinating story going on in the book of first kings or, we had, because King Ahab ended up dying. We had an interesting story in the book of first Kings today. So, the king of Israel, the king in the North, his name was Ahab and the king of Judah, the king in the South was King Jehoshaphat and they were visiting with one another and Ahab, the king of Israel was just kind of musing about this city, Ramoth Gilead, that has been taken from him and it actually belongs to them and they need to go and attack and take it back. So, he asks Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, will you go into battle with me to take back the city of Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat agrees, like that they’re one people, that they’re brothers, that they will go as one that they’ll do this, but Jehoshaphat, being the king of Judah, were the temple of God is in the city of Jerusalem, inquires of Israel’s King Ahab whether or not there is a prophet of the Lord in the land that they can inquire of the Lord about this, about this plan that they are hatching to go to war to take back a city. So, these 400 prophets of the Lord are brought to prophesy and they begin to prophesy in the name of the Lord, that success is in front of them, that they should go into battle at once, they will be victorious, God is with them, and they will gore the enemy. What’s interesting is that, Jehoshaphat hears the prophets of the Lord, Jehoshaphat is a God-fearing man, the kingdom of Judah, worships at the temple of God in Jerusalem and for some reason he’s not fully buying it, because he will re-inquires, like is there anyone else that’s a prophet of the Lord. And that’s actually a little bit of a clue to what comes next. But in the end, there is one other person, the prophet of the Lord named Micaiah but Ahab doesn’t like Micaiah because every time Micaiah prophesies in the name of the Lord, it’s something bad against Ahab. So, he doesn’t like him, but they send for him. He is a prophet of Yahweh, the Lord and so they go get him and they tell him, all the other prophets are saying this is a good idea, God is in, and that we should go into battle, so make sure that you hear the same thing from God when you come and give the same message. Micaiah comes and he kind of pretends to give the same message, kind of sarcastically in some sort of way, or maybe quietly, he does it in a way that Israel’s King, King Ahab knows that he’s not actually giving what he believes the words of the Lord are and then Micaiah actually gives the words that he had heard from the Lord, which is essentially, if you going to battle you’ll be killed, and there will be no Shephard in Israel and everybody will flee back to their own home. So, Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, you see what I told you. This guy never says anything good about me. But Micaiah’s contrary prophecy to the 400 prophets of God, then sort of causes a showdown among the prophets. So, a prophet, Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah, as the Bible tells us, walks up and smacks Micaiah right across the face and says which way did the spirit of God go when he left me to then come and talk to you. Wow! I mean, that’s like one prophet beating another prophet, both of the same God, both hearing two different things that they believe that the Lord is saying. And Micaiah had told about why there was a discrepancy in what was being said among the prophets, why they had divergent messages, and he tells a story about a spirit being sent from God to deceive the prophets. What is that about? It’s actually a passage that has been wrestled with for a very, very, very long time because we need typically to make the theology work so that we have a view of a perfect God that would never do such a thing. One good scholarly supported view of this is that those 400 prophets prophesying in the name of the Lord, were not actually hearing from the Lord. So, in this instance, a distinction was made that Micaiah was actually speaking with the mouth or with the words that God had put in his mouth. Whereas Ahab’s 400 other prophets of the Lord, were never really listening to the Lord in the first place and were prophesying falsely so that a distinction was made so that the king had very, he had both options, but he had a very, very clear warning from God himself through the prophet Micaiah about the battle he was intending to go into and that it was going to cost him dearly. It was going to cost his life. Of course, as the story goes, as we know, since we just read it, Ahab decides to go into battle, incarcerates Micaiah until he gets back, Micaiah says if you come back, I haven’t spoken in the name of the Lord, I haven’t spoken truly. Of course, he doesn’t come back, which affirms Micaiah as having heard directly from God and having delivered a warning that would’ve saved the king’s life. So, we look at Micaiah, a prophet of God, who seems to keep to himself to some degree, isn’t part of the troop of the 400 prophets of God anyway, and he gets summoned to speak on behalf of the Lord and the Lord gives him the message to speak and he goes and speaks in the name of the Lord the true message that God has given him to speak and only bad things happen to him, right, like he gets rejected, he gets smacked by the other prophets, he gets incarcerated, he’s limited to food and water or bread and water to eat, but he is still sent to speak the truth, even though the truth is rejected and it causes hardship for the prophet. Sometimes we find ourselves in similar circumstances, where all kinds of advice is being given in the situation to maybe somebody that we love or somebody we care about or somebody that we know, or for that matter just a set of circumstances that involve us, advice is being given and it and it gives us a check in our spirit and were sitting there, sensing that there needs to be some kind of alternative to this advice. There needs to be at least the opportunity for the person who’s making the decision to be clear on what’s going on here and we’re in that same kind of situation where we can speak the truth, humbly and offer it, which may be the only warning that the person ever gets. But we find ourselves may be then seemingly opposing those who have given other opposite advice, maybe even in the name of the Lord. Super, awkward position to be in, that’s what we’re seeing happen with Micaiah today. And Micaiah obeyed God and did what he was told to do, even though it wasn’t going to be easy. But there are times we find ourselves in situations where we may be the only one that can speak truth into the situation and if we sense that God is leading us, then the lesson here is that we must obey God, even if it’s not easy. Which is a big deal, because so much of our lives are lived in such a way that we believe if we sacrifice and obey God, then his response will be only blessing and good, like it’s a payback. Like, if we do this, then he will do that, as if our relation is a transaction, we obey, He blesses. We obey, He blesses. Sometimes He invites us to obey Him and trust Him because it’s about more than just us and we may have to step into something hard sometimes. What the lesson teaches us is that we certainly better be sure about what God is telling us to say and then once we are, we better say what God is telling us to say, even if it’s difficult. But regardless of whether we’re heeded or not, we’ve released the information, it’s out there, the person was warned. So, we become God’s mercy in that moment, even if it’s not accepted. Plenty to think about there as we think about the circumstances and intertwining of our lives and the different kinds of people that we have to work alongside and with, each and every day.
Prayer:
So, Father, we see this, we see what unfolded before us today and as we think about it, it’s impossible to navigate a situation like this without the power of Your Holy Spirit leading and directing us. And it’s interesting, that so long ago all of these thousands of years ago, we can look back and see that people who believe they are hearing from You, hear different things and offer contradictory advice. If we feel like we need to say something because You are leading us to say something, then Holy Spirit, speak to us clearly, clearly enough that we know that if we step into the situation, it may not be easy, but we are convicted, You are sending us to speak. Lead us into all truth, we are hanging onto that hope, that is a promise and that is what we seek to walk on the pathway of truth, Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hello DAB family, this is Ruby Rivera in Minnesota and I’m calling in response to the gentleman you called on June 15th. He is struggling to stay in the race and my call is just to encourage you to stay in the race. A quick story about two half marathons that I ran. The first one was phenomenal. The weather was absolutely miserable. It was rainy. It was call, only about 40° but I was running the race for someone else, beside me and the energy from the crowd was phenomenal. It was, it poured into my experience of continuing, they were encouraging. The second race was not fun. It was, I ran alone. The weather was fine, it was cloudy, so it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold, so it was a comfortable temperature. But the crown was far more distant. They were cheering on but it didn’t have the same energy and they felt more like spectators, than encouragers. So, for you, I am saying, stay in the race and keep calling in to DAB family, because you are not alone. And we are here to cheer you on so stay in the race. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Hello DAB family, this is Voice of the Turtle and I’m calling, it is June 15th. And the last couple of days I’ve heard prayer requests about brothers who seem as if they are at the end of their rope, especially the brother from today, he didn’t give his name. And also yesterday, I believe the brother was Stephen Leiland but I want to go ahead and pray and give them encouragement. So, Holy Spirit, as we come before you as a community, I pray for these brothers. I pray personally Abbah, that You will manifest Your presence within them. Holy Spirit, You who live on the inside of us, especially these our brothers, give them a tangible visitation of Your presence. Let them know that they are not alone, let them know that You have not forsaken them. And in the case of my brother from today, I encourage you in the same way that Jesus encouraged Peter on the night that he betrayed Him. I pray for you, that your faith fail not, and once you have recovered, strengthen your brothers. Stephen Leiland, this prayer is also for you, I pray that your faith, fail not. And Father, we just simply ask that You will be God to them. Supply their need, be in their mist, let them know that they are not alone. And help us to continue to bare one of those burdens and so fulfill Your law, the law of love, which is in Jesus. We bless You, we honor You, and we thank You. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Brothers, stay encouraged. We’re looking forward to your praise report. Be blessed.
Good morning, this is Dani from Southern Oregon. Gosh, you know I was on my way to work, and I was late and I was stressed about the day and I’m driving to work and I’m listening to Ezekiel in DAB kids and he accidentally said that Peter went on the rooftop to spray instead of pray and he started giggling, and Jill started giggling and I’m giggling and I just want to thank you guys for not editing that out. I really needed a laugh right at that time and I think it just changed my entire attitude for the day. So, I love it, to hear, I love, love hearing Ezekiel read and make mistakes because it’s so human. And I think the kids can relate to that too, so anyway, thanks for not editing that out. That was awesome. Thanks for the laugh you guys. Have a great day, bye.
Hey DAB family, it is Beloved in Boston. I haven’t called in, in a few months, it’s been very crazy over here for us as we have got a house in Florida. We sold our house here and by the end of July, we’ll be moving our family of five, to the Fort Myers area. So, if you could just all be praying for my girls, mainly. Through this process as there’s a lot of loss and grief, and transition and change. So, that’s just a quick plug there. I also wanted to send a quick praise report, this is my first day now, reading the Bible again. How amazing is that. I have finished, as of yesterday, a full year in the Bible for the first time ever in my life. And thanks to the DAB family for this community, and for Brian and his family and team for this podcast. So, anyway, I wanted to praise Jesus for that. And quickly, it’s the end of June 15th, and I just heard a prayer request by a man, who it sounds like is being told that there’s something he has to do to be saved and to be close to Jesus and have a relationship with Him. And so, for that man, I just wanted to speak truth over you, this is a complete lie from the enemy. There is nothing you have to do except surrender into His loving arms and then just chase after Him, pray to Him, worship Him, do the things that out flow from you because God has filled you with so much of His love. All you have to do is say yes and let Him in. It’s that simple, it’s not hard. Love you all.
Hey DABers, it’s your girl Val in Vegas. Happy mid-June, we made it. Hey, we are halfway through this thing, ya’ll keep going man, this has been the best year through the Bible, for me. And it just gets better and it’s better together, you all make it so amazing for me. And thank you. And I want to say a special hello to my guy Micah and to all people that are still feeling any kind of lingering effects to COVID. Or to any kind of respiratory issues, where you’re still feeling sluggish and lethargic and just not fully back to you. I’m right there with you man. But God’s got us baby. We’re gonna keep praying for good health and energy and focus and frequency and the Lord is gonna keep providing it. I love you brother and I love everyone in this community, let’s pray. Lord God, thank You, thank You for the ability to come to You in prayer God. Right now, Lord, we’re praying for health, God. For guidance in what we should do as it relates to our health, Lord. For energy Lord, for frequency God, for You to breath Your breath into us, Lord. God, we want to be better than before we got sick. We’re not just asking to put us back together to where we were. Lord, Your word says that we get double for our trouble. So, Micah, you hold on brother. You’re healing is coming; healing is coming for all of us. And we thank You in Jesus name. And we love You, thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. I’ll see you all next month. I love this community and I love you guys. Hey, make sure you go and tithe, please, please, please, give to this ministry.