The Folly Of Ahab

I've been reading up and studying on the life and call of Elijah lately and yet interestingly enough, God chooses to show me certain interesting things about the life of Ahab- Elijah's greatest enemy... he is really one interesting character because i cant help but feel sorry for him...

Ahab was a very wicked king of Israel who was even deeper into idolatry than his father was... I feel sorry for him because he was a man of such weak and pathetic character that it is sobering to think that God held him accountable for his actions... To prove this point, i shall briefly argue on Ahab's behalf and try to give excuses for what Ahab did... In his time, idolatry wasn't new... even Solomon worshipped idols and so did the wicked kings before Ahab... One might say that Ahab wasn't so bad because his fathers already set the precedence wad... And we can further argue that weak Ahab was under the influence of his nasty wife Jezebel... We can say that poor Ahab was so henpecked that he had no choice but to give into Jezebel because she had a much stronger character. When Ahab wanted Naboth's vioneyard, he even offered to buy it instead of seizing it... when Jezebel came along, she hatches a plan to steal it and kill Naboth instead! Surely poor Ahab wasn't so bad?? He had such a weak character that when Ben-Hadad king of Aram asked him to surrender his gold, silver and best wives, he was so willing to do it... but when confronted by the elders, he gave into their influence instead... and when he finally won over Ben-Hadad in warfare, he let him off and even called him his "brother"... he was a man who easily vascillated between decisions...

And God gave him so many chances! He saw fire fall from heaven... He saw rain fall at Elijah's word... He saw God's faithfulness to the prophetic word and how He enabled him to conquer Ben-Hadad's army... twice... and much much more... yet he remained the wicked king he was... Did Ahab repent? well he did humble himself before the Lord briefly when Elijah prophesied the destruction of his household... but then we see his stubbornness again 3 years later... when he throws Micaiah the prophet in jail when he prophesied of Ahab's death by going into battle... The Lord even permitted a lying spirit to make sure that all of Ahab's other "prophets" prophesy the wrong thing so that he would indeed end up in the battlefield, thinking he would be victorious... He had been so wicked that the Lord so clearly made him the object of His judgment... But Micaiah the true prophet was sent to jail for telling the truth... and Ahab, though presented with such a prophecy still refused to heed it.. in his hardness and stubbornness of heart, he chose to believe what he wanted to believe... he went into battle, thinking he could outsmart God... he disguised himself so he won't be an easy target... but someone shot him accidentally, hitting a place between the sections of his armor (what are the chances of that??)... and that was the end of him.

Poor Ahab! He was bullied around into his own destruction! When we live our lives before the sight of God, we can't make up excuses! We can't say "Oh God, I am in this pathetic state because of so-and-so or because of this and that..." We can't say that just because someone else sinned against God or because our fathers have not been godly examples to us then we can follow in their footsteps! At the end of the day, we are accountable for our actions and the choices that we make, not the people around us. It doesn't depend on the circumstance or situation or environment we're facing! We have to choose to live for God! Even so especially since we live in such a sex-crazed, materialistically-driven society! At the end of the day, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we can't say "My wife made me do it!" or "I got bullied into it!" or even "The devil made me do it!". each person is accountable for his or her own actions! Jezebel's gonna get her own judgment from God for her wickedness and evil influence.. but that's her problem... so when we're presented with such influences, we do have the choice against it so as not to bring the wrath of God upon us!

Come to think of it, Ahab shouldn't have married Jezebel in the first place! Talk about unequally yoked.. it was against Mosaic law to marry a foreign wife.. and what did Ahab do? He married one who was arguably the worst of the lot! And this brings me into the aspect of ungodly alliances... Clearly we saw how Ahab had potential to be influenced positively... he did humble himself when Elijah prophesied the destruction of his household.. he did attempt to acquire Naboth's property by paying for it instead of killing.. but a man with so weak a character as him was so swayed by the wrong influence and that dragged him down... God only knows what would have happened if he married a godly woman of virtue and wisdom like the one described in Proverbs... perhaps he would have been a great king... But his ungodly alliance with Jezebel not only led to his own destrution but also the destruction of his own family and his own nation- it opened up and led Israel deeper into the sin of idolatry...

There was another ungoldly alliance in this story.. that between Jehoshaphat king of Judah and Ahab king of israel... now Jehoshaphat was a righteous man... but he entered into an ungodly alliance with Ahab and gave him a "blank cheque" promising to fight with him provided he sought the counsel of the Lord.. and we all know how Ahab was deceived to go into the battle wherein he died.. And Jehoshaphat was dragged into the mess, though he escaped with his life...

Yet perhaps what could be most sobering was the fact that Ahab saw experienced God and yet he still didn't repent... He saw the fire from heaven, and rain the same day after 3 yeears of drought.. he saw the favour of God leading him victorious against Ben-Hadad's troops... He experienced the ministry of Elijah and a number of other true, anointed prophets of God and yet he refused to repent. His momentary act of humility apparently was not deep enough to bring true repentance as we still see his stubborness of heart and contempt for the Lord in the later years of his life... And what is sobering and perhaps frightening is that this is all too familiar, reminiscent of our spiritual conditions... certainly of mine...

When we get to experience God's glory and wonderful manifest presence... and get touched by Him... time after time.. camp after camp... it may result in a lot of sobbing and "repenting" just as Ahab humbled himself... but is there truly a change of heart? Is there true repentance that leads to a changed lifestyle? perhaps in the moment, our repentance may indeed be sincere enough... but that's not an end in itself.. it has to draw us closer to God and cause us to walk and live making the right decisions that would please Him... and I'm saying that I'm frightened by this because we have been experiencing times of renewal in God's presence... Did you notice the wonderful presence of God at the altar on sunday? or the wonderful time of worship? not just this week but many weeks preceding already! God has been showing up! But is our experience merely limited to the confines of the altar? Is our repentance confined within the boundaries of the church? Has our attitude towards God changed? At the end of it all, having experienced Him, is our heart still hardened, stubborn, refusing to seek Him and still believing what we want to believe? Are our lives still being directed by ourselves, lived our own way and void of God?

I'm saying this because history has proven that times of great renewal have preceded times of great judgment! And our response would determine what becomes of us... the greater the testimony we have of God, the more that is required from us! To whom much is given, much is required... Jesus had a healing revival service in Bethsaida but then later prophesied that judgment for them was greater than Sodom and Gomorrah because of how they treated Him... Later He even had to take a man outside of the city to heal him and told the man not to give his testimony back home? Why? Because their hearts were still hardened... Scriptures are clear that if people don't respond to the Word of God, they won't even respond to signs and wonders! Jesus walked on earth and did wonders... and yet His own people missed Him!.. and He was far greater than Solomon, Elijah, or any of the prophets! And this is a sobering thought!!

I'm writing this and appealing to whoever reads it, including myself, to stay faithful to God.. because we have seen God move and experienced His presence much.. and if we still are unrepentant in our attidues, the judgment for us is greater...

God bless!