November 11, 2012 What Do You Hear?

What Do You Hear? 1 Kings 22:7-8 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?" 8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man 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." HAVE you ever asked someone, “Tell me the truth, what do you think of me?” And you didn’t like what you heard? Your nature is to seek words that only affirm you, isn’t it? 1 Kings 22 is an account of a desperate King Ahab of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) seeking only good words from God. He has many “prophets” around him telling him what he wants to hear, but no prophet has told him the truth until King Jehoshaphat of Judah urges Ahab to seek a prophet of God. There’s a good idea—seek a truthful man who knows God’s truth. But Ahab doesn’t like the idea because that truthful man is Micalah, who always tells Ahab things he doesn’t what to hear. Odd, isn’t it, that Ahab would not listen to a prophet of God who proclaims the truth? Why would that be? Would Ahab be as one who goes to church to hear God’s Word but doesn’t like what he hears? Too often, you consider the Good News of God’s Word to be Bad News for your life, don’t you? You don’t like it when God calls you to change a harmful habit or repent of a sin. It’s bad news, isn’t it to be confronted with things you don’t want to hear? King Ahab rejected God’s truth and died. What will you do with God’s truth? It’s True! God’s Word is good news for your eternal soul.