Wed.’s Devo - Ask God First

Read: 1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 12:24-13:15; Psalm 137: 1-9; Proverbs 17:16
I have to say that Ahab surprises me with his response to Ben-Hadad. He agrees to let him have any of his wives (I would have offered Jezebel), his children and his money but when he says Ben-Hadad threatened to do the same to the people, Ahab drew the line. I would have thought it would have been the other way around with Ahab, so he got my respect on that one.
I love his response to the arrogant Ben-Haddad, “One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.” In other words, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
God sent Ahab a prophet to tell him that He would deliver Ben-Hadad’s army into his hands. When Ahab asked by whom, he said to send the young officers of the provinces to lead in battle and then the army behind them. There were 232 officers and 7,000 in the army against a multitude of Ben-Hadad’s men. They won that battle, but he prophet warned them Ben-Hadad would return in the spring.
Ben-Hadad’s men did return and they tried the same tactic that they thought had given Israel their victory. They put their officers out front and then the army. Little did they know that it had nothing to do with their strategy, it had to do with their God. Once again God gave them victory and Ben-Hadad bet on the mercy of Ahad and surrendered. Instead of putting him to death, Ahab foolishly made a covenant with him and let him go.
Ahab was severely rebuked for letting Ben-Hadad go free and was told it would cost him his own life. It did not happen immediately so Ahab went back to life as usual. There was a vineyard outside his palace owned by Naboth and Ahab coveted it. He tried to buy it from him but Naboth refused since it was his inheritance and it belonged to his family. Jezebel convinced Ahab to get it underhandedly so they paid false accusers to testify that Naboth had cursed God. They stoned him and took his vineyard. God was not happy. He sent Elijah to Ahab to rebuke him. God was going to cut off everyone from Ahab’s family so that there was not an heir left. Ahab repented in sackcloth so God, in his lovingkindness sent Ahab the news that it would not happen during his lifetime. God is much more merciful than me.
In Acts we see that many of Herod’s leaders had turned to the Lord and were now leaders in the church. They fasted and prayed and felt that Paul and Barnabus should leave and go out to proclaim the gospel to other nations. They came to Salamis and ended up in a town called Paphos. They met a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-Jesus who opposed everything they taught. No surprise, with a name like that! Because he was spiritually blind, Paul sentenced him to physical blindness. I have to think that Paul hoped that like himself, his blindness would lead him to enlightenment. We aren’t told if it worked on Bar-Jesus or not. They left and sailed to Perga then Antioch where they were asked to give a word from the Lord which we will read about tomorrow.
Lord, help us never get so comfortable in our walk with you that we think we can make a single decision without your counsel. Save us from ourselves. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that leads us in the way that we should go and is our constant companion.