1 Kings 21-22

I just finished 1 Kings. In summary...

+Ahab wanted a vineyard but a man refused to give it to him, per instructions of the Lord. Instead of fighting it, Ahab sulked. That wasn't too bad. He wasn't happy about the commands of the Lord but he accepted them. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, was furious that the king was denied the vineyard. She used deceptions and lies to kill the owner of the vineyard.

+This shows the importance of dating/marrying someone of the Christian faith. I'm not saying that Ahab is completely guilt free here but he was willing to let it all go. Had Jezebel been a woman of God, she would have been accepting of the Lord's decrees as well.

+Upon Naboth's (vineyard owner's) death, the Lord sent Elijah to speak to Ahab. Ahab still blamed Elijah for all of Israel's problems. The Lord spoke through Elijah and delivered a prophecy of Ahab's death. Ahab then repented, sort of.

+After this, Judah and Israel wanted to combine forces to go to war against Ramoth Gilead. Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehosophat, king of Judah, to go to war. Jehosaphat's reply? "First seek the counsel of the Lord." Keep in mind that Ahab previous repented. Ahab then brought together prophets of one of the idols. Jehosaphat wasn't dumb. He then inquired if there was a prophet of the Lord that could advice Ahab. Micaiahthen told Ahab that defeat was on its way. Ahab didn't listen to the counsel or the Lord, went to battle, and died.

+We knew the day was coming when Ahab would die. The Lord declared in His justice that this day would come. Here's the thing: Had Ahab listened to the Lord and not gone to war, his life would have been prolonged for the moment. It is interesting that we see Ahab finally repent in chapter 21. The Lord provided mercy to Ahab in his repentance. We see in chapter 22 that it was not genuine repentance, however, as Ahab turned back to his own prophets. From this...

1) The Lord is gracious and merciful to even the greatest of sinners. In this chapter, Ahab was described as the "vilest" of them all and yet the Lord provided grace for the moment. The Lord does not turn His ear from those who cry to Him in repentance.

2) Repentance is more than "I'm sorry". Repentance is not our "I can do whatever I want!" card. We see the shortcomings of Ahab's repentance in that He did not turn from his ways. Instead of turning to God, he went back to his old lifestyle of serving false idols. This shows one of Ahab's major problems, even something that we noted earlier when Ahab tried to kill Elijah. Ahab wanted things from the Lord but not the Lord himself. He wanted the Lord's forgiveness but not the presence of God. In fact, he hated the presence of the Lord as he hated the prophets of the Lord that spoke about his coming downfall. When you seek repentance, don't just seek repentance in itself. Seek the Lord.

3) Repentance needs to be continual. It's not some one time thing like Ahab made it. As Christians, we are commanded to walk with the Lord and to stay "in step with the Spirit." This means that we should be turning away from sin and growing more like Christ. However, as long as we are here on earth, we will be plagued by the disease of sin making repentance necessary.