Fri.’s Devo - God’s Victories

Read: 1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 12:24-13:15; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 17:16 King Ben-hadad from Syria came with 32 other kings to threaten Ahab, king of Israel. They asked for the king’s silver and gold and his best wives and children. (I wonder if he would have taken Jezebel.) *** King Ahab agreed to his terms. Then Ben-hadad’s messengers added that they would go through his personal house and the house of his servants and take whatever they wanted. The servant of Ahab would not agree to this. They didn’t want their stuff taken. So Ahab told the messengers he would agree to the first thing, but not this. *** Ben-hadad boasted that he was coming and nothing would be left of Samaria when he was finished. Ahab answered that he shouldn’t boast so hastily. Then Ahab commanded his men to take their positions to defend the city. *** A prophet came to king Ahab and told him God would give the great mulitude of Ben-hadad’s army over to him so he would know he was the Lord. Ahab asked him who he should send into battle and he told him to send the governors of the districts and he should lead the charge. Ahab obeyed and got the 232 governors to come with him and his army. *** They attacked at noon while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in his tent. When Ben-hadad was told Israel was coming, he told his men to take them alive. Israel didn’t come to take prisoners, they were fighting for their lives so they began striking down the Syrians till they fled. Ben-hadad also fled. *** The prophet came back to Ahab and told him to get ready because in the spring, the Syrians would return. *** The servants of Ben-hadad told him that Israel’s god was only over the hills, so they needed to fight them in the plains. So, that was the plan. *** In the spring, Ben-hadad returned and Israel was ready for them. Israel looked like two little flocks of goats compared to the Syrian army that covered the land. *** A man of God came and told the king of Israel, because the Syrians have said that God can only fight in the hills, He was going to give them the victory. *** Israel camped opposite the Syrian army for 7 days and on the seventh day, they began fighting. The people of Israel struck down 100,000 Syrians in one day. The rest fled to Aphek where the wall there fell down and killed 27,000 of them. *** Ben-hadad fled and went into the inner chamber of the city. He told his men that he had heard the kings of Israel believed in mercy so they should humble themselves and ask for their lives. When Ahab said that he was his brother, they knew this was the sign that meant they would be saved. Sure enough, Ben-hadad promised to give back the cities that his father had taken from Israel and to let them sell their merchandise in Samaria. They made a covenant and Ahab let Ben-hadad go. *** The prophet came wounded to Ben-hadad and told him that he had been put in charge of guarding a Syrian solder with his life. He got busy and the man escaped. When Ahab heard this, he told him that he would have to die. The prophet took his bandage off his head and Ahab recognized him as one of the prophets. He told Ahab that he had just let Ben-hadad go and the Lord had meant him to die, so he would pay for it with his own life. *** Meanwhile, Ahab wanted the vineyard that was next to his house to make into a vegetable garden. But, the vineyard belonged to Naboth and had been his inheritance from generations of wine makers. He refused to sell to Ahab. When Jezebel found out she told Ahab she would get Naboth’s land for him. She wrote letters to the elders and leaders in Ahab’s name, sealed with his seal. They said to send Naboth to trial and pay two false witnesses to say he cursed God and the king. Then sentence him to die and stone him. *** When Naboth was dead, Jezebel told Ahab to go and take possession of his land. God sent Elijah to meet Ahab as he was coming to get Naboth’s land. He told him that because he had killed to take Naboth’s land, he would die in the place they stoned Naboth, and Jezebel would would die within the walls of Jezreel. Ahab’s house would end up like Jereboam and Baasha’s where they would all end up eaten by birds or dogs. (In other words, they would end up in hell.) *** When Ahab heard his fate he humbled himself and wore sackcloth and fasted and was very depressed. God saw this and promised this disaster would not happen in his lifetime but would fall upon his sons. *** In Acts, Barnabas and Saul had taken the gifts of the people to Jerusalem and then returned to Antioch. There, Barnabas and Saul were anointed and set apart to be missionaries. They went throughout Seleucia and Cyprus proclaiming the news of Christ in the synagogues of the Jews. At Paphos, they ran into a magician and false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He asked to hear from Saul, Barnabas and John. Another magical opposed the message. Saul called him a son of the devil, and enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy. He cursed him with blindness because he caused the people to be spiritually blind with his lies. He was immediately made blind and when the people saw this, they were astonished at the power of the Lord. *** Paul and Barnabas continued on their way till they came back to Antioch. As they sat in the synagogue that Sabbath, the leader read from the Law then asked if they had any words of encouragement. *** Today, we read how important the role of the prophet was in history. The prophet is still that important now. We need to hear the word of the Lord for our lives because he is still speaking though his prophets and to us by his Holy Spirit. *** Lord, may we hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives and follow it. We read and believe that you bring victories to the weak who trust in you. We believe we will see victories in our lives and in our land.