Hear the Word of the Lord

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD

1 Kings 22:19-28

19 Micaiah continued, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.' 22 " 'By what means?' the LORD asked. " 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. " 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.' 23 "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." 24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. "Which way did the spirit from the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?" he asked. 25 Micaiah replied, "You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room." 26 The king of Israel then ordered, "Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king's son 27 and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.'" 28 Micaiah declared, "If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me." Then he added, "Mark my words, all you people!"

NIV

After the four hundred prophets were inspired by a spirit sent from the LORD to entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead, there stood one prophet alone who spoke truth of God or for God. Micaiah stated the truth and told them, Hear the word of the LORD.” Micaiah saw this vision, inspired to see the LORD on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing around him to his right and left. There are so many truths within this passage to focus our attention on. First, the LORD is upon His throne in heaven, wherever that is right now. He sent a spirit to do His bidding, to entice Ahab to go to war. However, this spirit was sent to be a lying spirit through those four hundred prophets. But Micaiah spoke the truth, and it cost him first a slap in the face and, second, imprisonment with only bread and water until the king of Israel returned safely, which he would not, as we will see later. The one truth we want to focus on is about hearing the word of the Lord. In our culture today, there are so many voices, some of which are extremely loud. Everyone is screaming for attention. Even within the church, we have a multitude of voices, some of them with sweet words, some are nothing more than silver-tongued purveyors of deception. It is unfortunate that some who profess to be believers love to have their ears tickled by lies, even some of the elect will be deceived. Jesus warned about being deceived by false prophets, or men who speak lies, and that even the elect could be deceived if that is possible. What we want to hear is the word of the Lord. There are words of the Lord that are blessings in our lives, words that inspire us, that lift us up. Some words correct us, rebuke us, teach us, and train us in righteousness. Sometimes we only want to hear the good things of God, as King Ahab wanted to hear from that lying spirit through those four hundred prophets. He knew that was one prophet who would speak the truth, but he hated him because he never prophesied anything good about him, only bad. Isn’t that what we want to hear, only the good? We should not be deceived by those who speak only the good things of God, because we need to hear correction at times. We need to hear instructions, even hear a rebuke, if we have been thinking wrongly. What we want is to hear the word of the Lord.