One of the Godliest Men You've Never Heard Of

Every moment spent in the presence of God is time well-spent.  This morning was no exception.  During my quiet time, the suggested reading for today involved two amazing biblical stories.  One of the stories was Paul & Silas, and their imprisonment in Philippi.  I'm sure you know the story - God amazingly delivered them from captivity and brought salvation to the very man who had imprisoned them (Acts 16).

The other story I read this morning came from 2 Chronicles 18 and had to do with one of my favorite characters in the all the Bible.  My guess is that he is one of the godliest men you've never heard of.  The man's name was Micaiah.  Micaiah was a prophet of the Lord who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel.  It's only by the providence of God that Micaiah even lived in the northern kingdom.  One would've expected to have found a prophet of the Lord in Judah (the southern kingdom) following the division of Israel.  That's because Jeroboam had kicked all the priests, Levites, and prophets of the Lord out of the northern kingdom when he took control.  I'm sure Micaiah spent many lonely days in the northern kingdom of Israel as a result.

Let me summarize Micaiah's story.  One day evil King Ahab (of the northern kingdom) decided that he wanted to go to war with one of his enemies.  He asked good King Jehoshaphat (of the southern kingdom) if he would go to war with him.  Jehoshaphat foolishly agreed to go, but at least he had enough sense to ask Ahab if there was a prophet of the Lord who could seek God's will before they went.  The only such man left was Micaiah, and Ahab knew it.  This is what he said about the prophet of the Lord:  "There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he never prophecies good concerning me but always evil" (v. 7).  And rightfully so, because Ahab was a wicked man and was leading Israel to to forsake the Lord.  Micaiah was a man of God - no amount of money could persuade him to be anything less than a prophet of the Lord.

So they sent for Micaiah.  When they went to get him, the messenger told Micaiah to let his word be like that of Ahab's 400 false prophets:  "Let your word be like one of them, and speak encouragement" (v. 12).  By the way, there are a lot of false prophets preaching a message of peace and encouragement in America these days.  One of them stands in an old basketball arena each Sunday.  His "message of encouragement" is nothing new - it is an old tactic that Satan has been using for thousands of years to distract God's people from hearing "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).  Sadly, we live in a generation that is too biblically illiterate to see through it.  There's nothing wrong with encouragement - we just need to be sure the encouragement we're offering is God's encouragement and not the invention of man.

Here was Micaiah's response to the king's messenger:  "As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak" (v. 13).  I love that verse.  God so impressed that verse of my heart that I had a little plaque made and placed on our church's pulpit with those words.  If that's not the desire of my heart when I stand to preach, then I need to sit down and go find something else to do.  I have nothing to offer anyone, but the power of God's precious Word has the power to transform lives.

Well, to finish Micaiah's story, he was persecuted for preaching God's Word, but the results of the war vindicated his preaching.  Not only was Israel thoroughly beaten in war, but Ahab's life was taken and King Jehoshaphat barely escaped death, and that was only because God intervened on his behalf.  Micaiah was a man who would not be shaken.  It didn't matter that every other prophet in Israel had sold out to evil King Ahab.  Micaiah wasn't working for King Ahab - he was laboring for the King of Kings.  I hope we'll all learn from this mighty man of God.  Now that you've heard his story, I hope you'll be challenged to go and live life for an Audience of One.