What hinders us from hearing God right?
1 Kings 22:1-12
While doing some teaching at a Bible college with charismatic roots, I encountered people who felt God give them messages for others. One such word to me proved to be astute and a wonderful encouragement from the Lord that kept me going in the challenges of that year. At another time, someone felt God saying to me that He would give me the desires of my heart. I was sceptical, as the message felt a little too facile and it was. Not all ‘words’ spoken in God’s name are truly from Him. Sometimes people try to please you with what you hope to hear and, if we are honest, we also easily fool ourselves that God confirmed what we so desperately wanted. Twisting Scripture to mean what we long for is a trap that many of us fall into at some point or another. The human heart had the same tendency for deception in the Old Testament and, like today, not everyone spoke God’s Word who said they did. What then hinders us from hearing God’s Word right and how can we avoid being deceived?
The issue of motivation
As our chapter opens, Ahab is contemplating war to reconquer Ramoth-Gilead from Aram (Syria; 1 Kings 22:1, 3). The place was a city of refuge east of the Jordan (Deut 4:43; Josh 21:38) and was part of Solomon’s kingdom (1 Kings 4:13). It was possibly a town, which Ben-hadad should have returned to Israel (1 Kings 20:34). The point is perhaps that, from an Israelite perspective, such a campaign may have looked reasonable, even right, so that it did not need God’s approval. There is no explicit judgment passed on Ahab but the incident’s placement after Naboth’s vineyard hints that the king’s motivation may not be right. If he did not respect an Israelite’s land but took it because he wanted it, is this perhaps another wilful land-grabbing no matter how justified the claim may look?
A foregone conclusion
The key issue, however, is the king’s determination to pursue this campaign without seeking God. He announces his intention publicly and secures the support of Jehoshaphat, Judah’s king (1 Kings 22:3-4). It is only at the latter’s request that Ahab inquires of the Lord (1 Kings 22:5) and the setup makes the outcome dubious. The king gathers about four hundred prophets,[1] which seems overkill and their unanimous answer smacks of a charade arranged to impress (1 Kings 22:6). These prophets were likely in the king’s pay, so their livelihood depended on pleasing the king. Ahab’s petulance, when Jehoshaphat asks for an independent voice (1 Kings 22:7), is revealing: Yes, there is another prophet, but he never says anything favourable to me (1 Kings 22:8)![2] The king has no interest in the truth, only in the approval of his plans! As the camera pans out, we get the whole scene. The kings in their royal splendour are sitting on thrones at the gate, where the court normally dispenses justice, while they watch the pantomime of the prophets enacting victory (1 Kings 22:10-12). Who would have the courage in such a public setting to speak truth to power?
An openness to hear
This incident highlights that we are more prone to accept lies for the truth when we have already decided what we want to do or wish for. When there is no openness in our hearts to hear a contrary message, we will not listen. It is like the typically feminine question of ‘Does my bottom look too big in this?’, which is rarely a genuine query and more often a plea for reassurance (‘No dear, you look fine’). Sometimes it is hard to recognise our motivation, but our actions often reveal the truth about our attitude. If we are already half-way to planning out our life in the direction we want to go, if we gather people around us who will affirm what we want to hear, these are sure signs that we have already made our choice.[3] Even then, however, it is possible to stop and acknowledge our wilfulness. Ahab, as we shall see, will be given another chance through Micaiah because God’s desire is not to prove Himself right but to save. May we be open to hear!
[1] It is sometimes suggested that the four hundred are the prophets of Asherah mentioned in 1 Kings 18:19, but this is unlikely despite the corresponding numbers. Asherah is not mentioned at all in our reading and despite the ambiguous ‘Lord’ (Adonay) initially (1 Kings 22:6), these prophets refer to the LORD (Yahweh, i.e. Israel’s God) several times (1 Kings 22:11, 12, 24). It would be easy to dismiss pagan prophets as not speaking for Israel’s God, but the issue is much more demanding. Namely, that it is possible to claim that one speaks for the true God but not do so (see 1 Kings 13:18).
[2] NASB translates 1 Kings 22:8 as Micaiah never prophesying any ‘good’ concerning Ahab, but only ‘evil’. The Hebrew tov (good) and ra‘ah (bad) mean favourable and unfavourable respectively here. The latter may also be translated as ‘disaster’, a negative outcome. It is not to be understood as moral evil.
[3] There are, of course, some settings where ‘pushing doors’ (seeking opportunities) to see what opens up may be the way the Lord guides us, but there needs to be honesty to admit when the door remains shut so that we do not knock it down to get through and have our way.
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