Arrogance or Humility

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

ARROGANCE OR HUMILITY

1 Kings 20:12-21

12 Ben-Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he ordered his men: "Prepare to attack." So they prepared to attack the city. 13 Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, "This is what the LORD says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the LORD.'" 14 "But who will do this?" asked Ahab. The prophet replied, "This is what the LORD says: 'The young officers of the provincial commanders will do it.'" "And who will start the battle?" he asked. The prophet answered, "You will." 15 So Ahab summoned the young officers of the provincial commanders, 232 men. Then he assembled the rest of the Israelites, 7,000 in all. 16 They set out at noon while Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk. 17 The young officers of the provincial commanders went out first. Now Ben-Hadad had dispatched scouts, who reported, "Men are advancing from Samaria." 18 He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive." 19 The young officers of the provincial commanders marched out of the city with the army behind them 20 and each one struck down his opponent. At that, the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some of his horsemen. 21 The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans.

NIV

We are in the middle of this conflict between Ban-Hadad and all his allied kings, and Ahab, the king of Israel. Ben-Hadad, because he assumed he was in a position of power, demanded all the silver, gold, and the best wives and children of Ahab. However, under the direction of the prophet of God, Ahab sent that message about the one who puts his armor on should not boast, like one who takes it off. Ben-Hadad decided to attack, but, again, because of his arrogance, he spent this time with all the other kings in their tents, getting drunk. How can a drunk man fight effectively? But it is about the arrogance that will be his downfall, but the real problem is that He is not fighting against the king of Israel and his army, but against the LORD God Almighty. Whenever anyone thinks he is greater than God, it always ends in his downfall. The prophet tells Ahab that he will start the war, and that 232 men will be the only force that will send Ben-Hadad and his army packing for the hills. It is similar to the situation when Gideon was asked to fight, when God kept sending men back home until Gideon only had 300 men left, and still won the victory. Truth from this narrative is in the arrogance of Ben-Hadad and the power of the Most High God. We know boasting is not the way of a believer, a follower of Jesus, for we have learned to be gentle and humble of heart. We have also learned that love covers a multitude of sins. What do we have to boast about, other than our Lord? However, are we ever subject to even the littlest bit of arrogance? We may think we are special because we are a Christian, or that because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have the right to be called a child of God. WE may think that we have the upper hand over those who reject Jesus. We may think that being the sheep, we enter into the presence of God, and they, being the goats, are cast out into the outer darkness, and that makes us special. We might think we are better than others, even within the church, because we do more, have a better position, or are more spiritual. In some sense, that may be considered a bit arrogant, a little boastful, thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. Yes, Jesus calls us friends because a servant is not told what the master thinks or does. Yet, in some sense, we still serve our Lord and Master because He is God and we are His people. That truth alone should eliminate any boastfulness, any arrogance about who we are and what we do. He is the Sovereign God to whom we pray that His will be done on earth, that is, within us, as His will is done in heaven. We submit complete authority to our Lord, offering ourselves as living sacrifices, which is our act of spiritual worship. We can do nothing unless we are connected to Jesus, as the branch is to the vine. How can we be anything but humble and contrite before our Lord? We cannot boast or have any arrogance regarding anything about ourselves, or whatever we do,  for everything is about the power of God. However, we should not even boast or be arrogant about the power of God at work within us. Yet, we do know, as Ahab found out, that when God is for us, no one can stand against us. If anything, that should cause us to be gentle and humble of heart.