Don't Just Follow the Crowd

Micaiah Prophesises against Ahab

Ahab (king of Israel) wanted to go to war and have Jehosaphat (king of Judah) help him. But, Jehosaphat first wanted to ask God and see if this was a good idea and part of 'the plan'. After all, God is the boss and knows 'the plan.' Anyway, Ahab, granting Jehosaphat's wish, gets together 400 prophets who are all telling Ahab to go to war. But Jehosaphat wanted a prophet of the LORD. This is how Ahab replies,

(vs 7) '..."There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad." '

I must admit, when I first read that, I laughed. I mean, what's the point of asking someone for advice and the ignoring it because it's bad. But we'll just let that go now and I'll continue on the point of this.

Ahab did end up sending for this prophet. His name is Micaiah as you may have guessed. So, here were 400 prophets, all lying but pleasing the king and only one of God's prophets, whom the king hates. And of course, Ahab doesn't like what Micaiah is saying. You must admit, 400 people and two kings all doing one thing, you'd want to stay on the safe side and copy them or just run away. Well, I would at least. I mean, the king has power! He could do anything to you.

But Micaiah knew that God could do so much more to him then Ahab ever could. So despite everything else, Micaiah stood boldly and told the truth. Even when the king didn't want to hear it.

(vs 13) ' "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him [Jehosaphat] only what my God says." '
(vs 27) ' "If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me." '

It was probably really humiliating, he got slapped and then sent to prison with just bread and water. But do you think he regretted it? Man can do stuff to you, but how much more could God do? That sounds kind of bad but regret is really hard to live with. Wouldn't it be better to serve God, than try and hide behind the crowd?

Living for God can be a really tough thing. There are many times when we need to stand up for we believe in. Even for people who don't believe in God, not following the crowd is so much better than missing out on who you could be. The best thing to do is PRAY. Pray that God will forgive you for times you hid and will give you strength the next time. He wants to help. He really does.

God bless and keep striving towards the goal