2 Chronicles 18--having the guts to tell it like it is

Here I am blogging during the Superbowl. Well, somebody has to carry the spiritual weight around here! Kurt Warner will remember that interception forever. That was the game right there. If that was the Patriots, the defender would have let himself get tackled because they win like real men.

Enough of that. I want to get back to 2 Chronicles 18 and the prophet Micaiah.

We left off talking about how King Ahab hated Micaiah because he never prophesied anyting good about him.

So one of the kings messengers fetches Micaiah and on their way to the castle the messenger offers some advice to the prophet in v. 12. "The other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word speak with theirs, and speak favorably."

Pressure. Peer pressure. Just go with the flow. Say what works and go home in one piece. I would be so tempted to take the advice.

But Micaiah (after some persuading from Ahab) tells him what the Lord has told him. Not only will Ahab's army lose, but Ahab will die in the process. I can picture the messenger cringing as Micaiah was talking. "Dude, what are you doing??!! What do you got a death wish or something?"

For his effort Micaiah gets a slap in the face (v. 23) and is thrown in jail. All in a days work.

What if Micaiah just went along with everyone? God would have surely forgiven him and he would have slept in his own bed that night. But Micaiah would have none of it.

I am so impre.ssed with the guts these prophets had. Even if they went kicking and screaming (which Jeremiah did), they STILL went against the grain in a way that produced much suffering. I haven't encountered too many people like that in my life.

I feel torn right now. Part of me is asking/hoping that God never calls me to something like this. I want absolutley nothing to do with it. Part of me is pulled towards it because, in my warped mind, I believe there is unique joy in this kind of suffering. (I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death... Philippians 3:10). And another part of me feels like God has been calling me to something like this for a long time and is waiting patiently for me to stop running.

This sermon series has given me the opportunity to walk alongside some men who loved God with wreckless abandon. Guys whose feet were firmly planted in the Kingdom of God. While it's not exactly finished, I do praise God for what He has been teaching ME through it. The author of Hebrews totally nails the prophets:

Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
Hebrews 11:36-38

the world was not worthy of them--agreed.

I have this gnawing feeling that I'm only scratching the surface....

grace & blessings and congrats to Steeler fans

pjim