In 2 Chronicles 18, we learn a valuable lesson about obedience to God.
King Jehoshaphat formed a close alliance with King Ahab. Then, Ahab asked Jehoshaphat if he would go up and fight with him to conquer the city of Ramoth-Gilead, which had been captured by the king of Syria.
Jehoshaphat told Ahab to “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” (vs.4). And Ahab went to the people he knew would agree to what he wanted – his own prophets (400 of them). Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” (vs 5).
So, Jehoshaphat told Ahab “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” (vs 6). And look at Ahab’s reply – “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” (vs 7).
Well, sure enough – they enquire of Micaiah, and rather than just go along with the “crowd”, he said told Ahab, “Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.” (vs 22) In other words, he told Ahab that his own prophets were just telling him what he wanted to hear and were not giving him the TRUTH.
BUT – rather than obey God and not go into battle against Ramoth-gilead, Ahab said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon…Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.” (vs. 25-26).
AND – Ahab had a plan to “fool” God. He said, rather than go into this battle dressed as the king like he normally would, he decided to just dress as a common soldier. Therefore the enemy wouldn’t know which one was the king and he could get away with doing what God said not to do.
However, look what we read in verses 33-34 “But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, ‘Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.’ And the battle continued that day, and the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset he died. ”
He may have been able to fool the enemy – but he didn’t fool God. God knew exactly where he was and had that random arrow slice right into the small opening that would kill him!
YOU CAN’T FOOL GOD! When God tells us in His Word to walk and live a certain way – it’s NOT open for discussion! And just like Ahab who simply put Micaiah in prison because he didn’t like what he told him – that didn’t change what GOD had said.
There’s ONLY ONE CHOICE in this life! OBEDIENCE to GOD or face the consequences!!