MICAIAH OR THE “FOUR HUNDRED”?

Memory verse: And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. 1 kings 22:8

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 5 -10

Jehoshaphat came down to Israel to celebrate three years of peace between Syria and Israel. Whilst celebrating this anniversary, a thought came to Ahab, Ramoth in Gilead belong to us, let us go and take it out of the hand of the King of Syria. He told Jehoshaphat about it and that one agreed to go with him on one condition; they must get God’s approval before leaving. King Ahab gathered four hundred prophets and asked: “shall i go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall i forbear?” In unity, they told the king to go because the Lord had delivered Ramothgilead into his hand. Jehoshaphat sensed in his spirit that these prophets were fake. For a reason or the other, he was not comfortable with this prophesy so he asked if there was any other prophet they could enquire from aside the "four hundred". 1 Kings 22:8 says And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

I want us to take a close look at this comment, “there is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Ahab knew deep within himself that Micaiah was a genuine prophet of God. He knew that this man was an oracle of God but he hated him because Micaiah always speaks the truth and the truth is bitter. He preferred the “four hundred” because they told him what he wanted to hear not what God had to say. There are many of us like Ahab today, when we hear a sermon that touches us or reveal parts of our life that we need to change, instead of repenting, we get angry at the preacher. Many have changed churches because of this; they heard their pastor preach a sermon that hit them, instead of crying for mercy, they take an offence with the pastor. Pastor is preaching against me, they will say. That sister preached against sex before marriage, you got angry and changed church. That minister of God preached on submission to one’s husband, you got angry and left claiming that the minister is encouraging wife bullying. You heard a sermon about tithing, instead of repenting; you said all that these modern day pastors talk about is tithes. The problem with many is that they do not like to hear what God has to say. You heard a message on holiness and you frown. Oh that pastor is too strict, you said. Many who have stolen from the government, the moment they hear about restitution, returning the money they embezzled from the government, they stopped coming to church.

QUESTION: Which do you prefer, words of encouragement or the unadulterated word of God?

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.