Sat.’s Devo - Nothing is Impossible with God

Read: 1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 12:24-13:15; Psalm 117:1-9; Proverbs 17:16 Ben-hadad, the king of Aram and 32 other allied kings came to besiege Samaria. Ben-hadad demanded Ahab’s silver and gold, his wives and the best of his children. Ahab agreed to this if they would just leave them alone. Ben-hadad then demanded the same of his officials. When Ahab took this message to his officials they weren’t so benevolent. They were fine with Ahab giving everything he had, but not fine with giving all they had. They sent that message to Ben-hadad. It made him so mad, he promised them he would take it all. God sent a prophet to Ahab saying that today God would hand this great army over to Ahab and he would use the provincial commanders to do it. There were 232 of them. They issued a surprise attack and killed Ahab’s leaders causing their whole army to panic and run. King Ben-hadad and a few of his charioteers escaped on horses. The prophet told Ahab they would return in the spring and in the spring, they came back in force. Israel mustered up their army but it was very small next to Ben-hadad’s huge army. They camped across from each other for 7 days. The prophet came back to Ahab and told him that their enemy thought that Israel’s god could only save them in the mountains but not in the plains. They didn’t understand that God was the God of the whole earth, but today they would. When the fighting began, Israel killed 100,000 Arameans and a wall fell on 27,000 more of them. Ben-hadad and his men knew that the Israelites were merciful, so they surrendered. Ben-hadad offered land and trade agreements for his freedom and Ahab agreed and made a covenant with him and released him. God sent Ahab a prophet to tell him that since he released the man God had wanted killed, he would now die in his place and Israel would die instead of his people. Ahab went home sad and angry. You would think that since he knew he was about to meet God, he would try to get his life in order, but instead he coveted the land that belonged to Naboth. Naboth’s family had owned the land next to his palace where they had a vineyard. Ahab wanted it for a vegetable garden. He offered to give Naboth land for a vineyard which takes years to establish or to pay him for his. This land had been in his family for years and he didn’t want to sell. This made Ahab so depressed he went to bed without eating. Jezebel noticed and asked him why he wouldn’t eat. When she found out why, she was indignant. He was the king and could have anything he wanted and she would get it for him. She devised a plan to frame Naboth and have him stoned. She sent her minions to do it and then told Ahab that the land was his. Ahab went to look over his new land and was met by Elijah who had a word from the Lord. God would bring disaster on him and all his male descendants because he had murdered Naboth and stole his land. Dogs would eat Jezebel’s body at the plot of land in Jezrel. None of Ahab’s family would get a burial; they would all be eaten by wild animals. Ahab was so affected by what Elijah said that he lived in burlap and fasted because of his sin. God saw it and sent news to him that he would not live to see the disaster on his family but his dynasty would end. In Acts, the three: Barnabas, Saul and John Mark left Jerusalem to go back to Antioch. Then they were sent to the islands of Cyprus. In Paphos they met a Jewish sorcerer who was very close to the governor, Sergius Palus. The governor invited Paul and Barnabas to visit him so he could hear their teaching. The sorcerer urged the governor not to believe their teaching. Paul looked the sorcerer in the eye and called him out for his lies then struck him blind. When the governor saw this, he became a believer. They left and continued visiting the islands. They ended up at Pisidia for the Sabbath and went to the synagogue. when the usual service had concluded, the leaders asked Saul and Barnabas if they had anything they wanted to add. We will read tomorrow what they said. Lord, help us to be as zealous for the gospel as Paul and Barnabas. Lead us to the people who are hungry for the Word of God. We believe that nothing is impossible with You.