1 Kings 20

Discussion Questions

1. How do we respond to the word of the Lord, while trying to understand the complex historical narratives in it?
2. Sometimes, even a bad example can make a good learning experience. What do we learn from Ahab about how not to be? Is there a little bit of Ahab in you and in me?
3. One of the ways that Ahab failed was by being thankless and indifferent to God’s blessings. In our fast-paced, consumer culture, are we, like Ahab, happy to receive God’s gifts without pausing to thank him? In our haste to move on to the next thing, are we forgetting all that God has done for us? What are some ways that we can cultivate a heart of thankfulness in the coming week?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We do have some extra copies. If you would like one to follow along, just raise your hand up real high and someone will drop a copy off for you to be able to take a look with us. We’re studying 1 and 2 Kings and we’re calling the series “The King of Redemption History.” This part of the overarching narrative of all of Scripture really where God is showing Himself to be a God who is in pursuit of a people He can call His own, and He continues to make it very clear to us that He’s eager for us to turn to Him, to repent from our sin, to trust and hope in Him.

I’ll throw this up on the screen for you if you want the notes and quotes in advance, just use that QR code there and you can grab those. Today in Chapter 20, the surprising and relentless grace of God is what we’ll be looking at, and I want to set our map up on the screen for you and talk through that just a little bit before we read. Lots of folks have, from time to time, asked questions about why God allows this or that thing to happen in the world. But I don’t know if you’ve ever wondered why God was merciful to someone. Maybe you’ve thought about why in the world would God be merciful to that member of my family or to that politician, or to that person who has engaged in such gross and heinous acts of sin or violence?

Why does it surprise us to think that God might be merciful or extend grace to those persons that we consider to be repeat offenders or perhaps even the repugnant others in our own view? Are there ever times when you think God simply could not forgive you? He certainly couldn’t. You’ve done that so many times. You’ve fallen, you’ve flirted with that temptation and fallen to that sin so many times. How is it possible that God would do that? I hope today our study of 1 Kings 20 will encourage you in some way.

Let me pray our prayer of illumination before I tell you about the map a little bit: Lord, thank You for Your Word and its searching power, for the way You speak to us through it and reveal Yourself in it. We thank You that from this ancient text, we gain Your wisdom, we learn Your ways and we are directed to Your will for our lives. Holy Spirit, please use our study of it today to increase our knowledge of Christ and to remind us of all the promises that we find true in Him. We open our hearts and eagerly anticipate hearing from You. Give us a clearer vision of Your truth, a greater faith in Your power, and a more confident assurance of Your love for us. In Jesus’ name, amen and amen.

So, look up here with me, if you will, at the map. Today, we will be hearing a lot about Ahab. He’s King of Israel. You see the part that up there that’s kind of a pink purple? What is that color? I’m not really good with colors, but I think that’s what that is. And Samaria is the current capital of the Northern Kingdom which is typically called Israel at this time.

It’s about 860 BC and King Ahab is the king there in Samaria. His wife the not-so-lovely Jezebel. I don’t know if you noticed. A lot of people do not name their children Jezebel or Ahab. You can pick up why I think that as we study. We’re going to be interacting today with Ahab and somebody from up there on the green section. It’s called Aram. In some of your Bibles, ESV I think calls it Syria. I’ll refer to it as both as I read the text in just a little bit. But it’s both. It’s the Arameans or the Syrians, and there’s a fellow there named Benhadad. We’ll be hearing a lot about him. Ben means son of Hadad. He’s the son of Hadad and there are a couple Benhadad’s. It’s more like kind of a title name, like when we think about Egypt and the Pharaohs. There are many of them.

It’s not just one Pharaoh. Kind of like we might think about somebody who’s a president or prime minister. It’s a title and yet people call this person Benhadad all the time. And we’ve already read about one such Benhadad. Probably Benhadad 1. This is likely Benhadad 2 that we’ll read about today. Judah is down below. That’s the Southern Kingdom. You can see that in the dark blue. Down by the lighter blue there is the Dead Sea. And I don’t know if you noticed, but when we’ve had our lyrics for the songs up on the screen here, a lot of times in the background you see a photograph of what looks like a desert region and large body of water behind that and that was taken from our last trip to Israel where we were down by the Dead Sea.

So, it’s quite meaningful to those of us who know that. So let me read this text for us and we will see what we can gain here. In Chapter 19, we ended with Elijah. He, according to God’s direction, found a younger man named Elisha. Elijah was on his way from the deep, deep south. He was down at Horeb, Mount Sinai and Sinai Peninsula and traveled hundreds of miles north. Along the way, he meets Elisha, puts his mantle on him and then Elisha, after a farewell to his family, begins to follow Elijah. Chapter 19 finished up with saying he arose, and Elisha arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.

So, we have a great little insight about what’s going on there, but what’s interesting is that it feels now we ought to continue with that story and continue with them. But we don’t. Chapter 20 is like it’s in parentheses and it’s really a focus. The camera lens is swinging geographically now westward over to Samaria where Ahab is. As a matter of fact, when we get back to Elisha in 2 Kings Chapter two, some Bible scholars think it’s 5 to 10 years before Elijah actually is carried away in the chariot and Elisha takes over his role, especially with the sons of the prophets and the school of the prophets.

We’ll read about that for the very first time actually here in Chapter 20. So, Verse 1 of Chapter 20: “Now, Benhadad king of Aram [or king of Syria] gathered all his army and there were 32 kings with him.” The kings back then might be kings of not a large nation section like we see here, but it could be a king of a city. So, you can see why you could easily have 32 kings that he’s conquered. They become vassal kings to Benhadad. They are sort of conscripted into his service and just like he’s about to try to do to Ahab.

So, he’s got 32 kings with him “and they went with their horses and chariots up to besiege Samaria and fought against it. He sent messengers into the city, to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, ‘Thus says Benhadad…’” That’s a formula that’s used often when a prophet of God is speaking. It’s “Thus says the Lord.” And this is very presumptuous in a way and perhaps the narrator, as he’s describing this person, Benhadad, wants us to see how completely arrogant this person is. And so, he says, “Thus says Benhadad.” The messengers do. “Your silver and your gold are mine.” He’s talking to Ahab. “Your most beautiful wives and children are also mine.” So very bold, very brash, designed to humiliate and intimidate. It’s that kind of message. Your most beautiful wives, he’s going to be selective because this guy evidently has a bunch of wives. We have no idea if Jezebel was a looker or not. Not sure about that. It could very easily be true that Ahab is going “And you got to take her too.”

At this point it seems that there’s a little conflict in the household. I’ll be honest with you. You’ll see that a little bit more in the next two chapters. She’s got a great deal more ambition than he does. So, it’s just an interesting thing to watch the dynamic of this ancient couple and what goes on with him. So, these messengers come in and they say, “We’re going to take your beautiful wives and your brightest children.” And the king of Israel, that’s Ahab, replies this way, “It is according to your word, my Lord, O king. I am yours and all that I have.” The guy totally folds.

I mean, without even stopping to say, “No, you can’t have those kids or this wife or whatever,” he folds, completely crumbles like house of cards. I mean it’s just like with a huge gust of wind on it. The king of Israel replied, “It’s according to your word, my Lord. I’m yours and all I have.” And the messengers returned and said, “Thus says Benhadad.” In other words, they go back to Benhadad and then they come back to Ahab. “Surely I sent to you saying you shall give me your silver and your gold and your wives and your children. But…” What’s he going to ask for now? He’s going to increase the intensity of the demand.

“’About this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you and they will search your house and the houses of your servants. And whatever is desirable in your eyes, they will take in their hand and carry away.’ The King of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, ‘Please observe. See how this man is looking for trouble. He sent to me for my wives and my children, my silver, and my gold and I did not refuse him.’ All the elders and all the people said to him, ‘Do not listen or consent.’”

Interesting that you can read between the lines. It doesn’t seem that Ahab went to the elders and the leaders the first time he was confronted by these guys, demanding what they demanded. He just folded. He’s just a coward. Now, he feels like it’s just too much. They’re going to come through the house and they’re going to take not just his beautiful wives and his bright children, but all the stuff that he finds desirable, whatever that might be. They’re going to take it away.

So he goes to the elders, and they have a little more backbone than he does, and they say, “’Do not listen or consent.’” [Verse 9] So he said to the messengers of Benhadad, ‘Tell my Lord the king, all that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do. But this thing I cannot do.’ And the messengers departed and brought him word. Again, Benhadad sent to him and said, ‘May the gods do so to me and more also if the dust of Samaria will suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.’”

In other words, “I’ve got so many soldiers. My army is so vast just outside of your city, your capital city, Samaria here. Just outside of your palace. I’ve got so many soldiers in my army that when we crush you, the dust of Samaria won’t even… You could count every grain of sand and it won’t be near close to the number of armies I have.” This is bluster is what this is, and it’s the kind of thing that is meant to further intimidate and make him nervous and afraid.

Verse 11, then the King of Israel replied, “Tell him, let not him who girds on his armor boast like him who takes it off.” This is interesting. It feels a little to me like with the backing of his elders and his leaders, Ahab has gotten a little bit of a spine going here, a little bit of a backbone, and now he’s using this little statement that basically says that’s one thing to strap on your sword. It’s going to be another thing to be the last man standing who can actually take their sword off as opposed to having it taken from them. In other words, don’t think you’re victorious when we haven’t even had the battle yet. That’s interesting that he changes there like that.

Benhadad heard this message as he was drinking with the kings in the temporary shelters. He was drinking with the kings in the tents, the large party tents that they brought for their battle. And as he was drinking with his 32 kings in the temporary shelters, he said to his servants, “Station yourselves.” Now, that doesn’t sound like the kind of thing anybody in one of our epic movies would write as a retort. I’m used to more, “I’ll be back” kind of stuff. More tough guy kind of sounding stuff. But this is like their version of “Saddle up. Let’s go. Let’s get it on. We’re going to fight.” There’s going to be a battle is what they’re saying or what he’s saying. And they station themselves against the city. Now, this is fascinating, this next section. We’re going to hear from three prophets, but none of them are named Elijah or Elisha.

Remember Elijah had that syndrome where he is going, “I’m the only one left. I’m the only one.” And the Lord said, “No, you’re not. I’ve got 7,000 who have not bowed the knee.” And so maybe these are three of those 7,000. I don’t know. We don’t know their names, but they served faithfully in anonymity. And here’s what happens. “Behold a prophet, the first of three approached Ahab king of Israel and said, ‘Thus says the Lord. Have you seen all this great multitude?’ Behold, I will deliver them into your hand today and you shall know that I am the Lord.’”

All right. So, there’s a lot of information in that one little verse. Yahweh is speaking through His prophet to Ahab who has not been particularly faithful to Yahweh at all. As a matter of fact, he’s a Baal worshiper. He’s ignored Yahweh and we’re going to see he does it even more intensely, more intentionally, in this chapter. But here’s what God is saying, “I’m going to give you the victory and I’m going to do it so that you will know that I’m the Lord.” There’s a purpose there. There’s a promise and a purpose. Here’s what I’m going to do, but I’m doing it for this reason. I like that. Ahab then says, “By whom?” See, he’s thinking just in sheer numbers. He doesn’t have the numbers. He couldn’t ever go up against that army. It’s so massive, so vast, so huge out there that has come from Syria.

So, he said, “Thus says the Lord.” The prophet responds. “’Thus says the Lord, by the young men of the rulers of the provinces.’” And then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” This is Ahab. And now the prophet answers and says, “You will.” And I don’t know if that was a dope moment or not. It may have been one of those moments, but you are going to go out front. Here’s what doesn’t happen. He doesn’t go out front.

However, at the end of the battle when it looks like the battle is completely won, he does hustle out there and sort of look like he’s a part of the winnings. Watch how it goes. He mustered the young men and the rulers of the provinces. There were 232 of them. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the sons of Israel, 7,000. Interesting number there. Is it meant to be some kind of a parallel to the 7,000 that God had spoken to Elijah about? Don’t know, not sure. It’s an interesting number though.

They went out at noon when Benhadad was doing what? Drinking himself drunk in the temporary shelters with the 32 kings who helped him. The young men of the rulers of the provinces went out first and Benhadad sent out and they told him saying, “Men have come from Samaria.” And so, here’s Benhadad’s response. Remember he’s drunk. Then the narrator says Benhadad said, “If they’ve come out for peace, take him alive. And if they’ve come for war, take him alive.” And he’s gone. He’s blitzed. This is beer-bragging or bourbon-bragging, and he doesn’t care how it goes. He’s just, “Do whatever, but take him alive.” Take him alive is what he wants. Okay?

And that’s likely in his mind. We’re going to have an opportunity to have some fun with torturing these guys is the way that they are back then. So, either way, take them alive is what he says. So, these men went out from the city and the young men are the rulers of the provinces in the army which followed them. They killed each his man and the Arameans fled Israel, pursued them. Benhadad, king of Aram, escaped on a horse with horsemen. And if you’re old enough, like me, to have seen Cat Ballou with Lee Marvin riding a horse when he was in a drunken state, just falling all over the horse. This is Benhadad.

He’s completely soused and yet he’s getting away. He’s escaping because what he couldn’t have believed would happen, has happened. He’s being routed by a much smaller, less equipped army. “The King of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots and killed the Arameans with a great slaughter. Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, ‘Go strengthen yourself and observe and see what you have to do, for at the turn of the year, the king of Aram will come up against you.’”

So, their prophet is coming back reminding them they’re still going to have to face this guy at the turn of the year in the spring when kings went to war in the Old Testament. Verse 23: “Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, ‘Their gods,’” meaning the Israelites’ gods and they think in the plural because that’s how they think. They’re polytheistic and in some ways pantheistic, but they are at least polytheistic. Their view of gods, little-G gods, is that they each have an assignment. Most of them are nature gods. This god of the sun, the god of the rain, the god of the harvest, the god of the mountains, whatever.

And now they think that it’s that way for the Israelites as well. “Their gods are gods of the mountains,” they say to Benhadad. “Therefore they were stronger than we, but rather let us fight against them in the plain.” All right, here’s the pitch. Let’s get them down off the mountain onto flat ground. We can take them there with our chariots and all that. And surely we will be stronger than they are. “Do this thing. Remove the kings each from his place and put captains in their place and muster an army like the army that you have lost horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain and surely we will be stronger than they. He listened to their voice and he did so.”

So Benhadad is going to come back in the spring and he’s going to draw them down to the plains because surely Yahweh is not the God of the plains. At the turn of the year, Benhadad mustered the Armeans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. The sons of Israel were mustered and they were provisioned and went to meet them. Sons of Israel camped before them. Look at this description. I love the way this narrator thinks. It’s so picturesque and yet it also tells us something. “The sons of Israel camped before them like two little flocks of goats. But the Arameans filled the country.”

Now, I’ve stood on Mount Carmel. I’ve looked out over the Jezreel Valley multiple times. I’m telling you, it is impressive as a valley. It’s really vast. It’s huge. And if you’ve got to describe your army, your forces as two little goat flocks, that’s not saying much. And especially against some army that fills the valley. That’s not much at all. It reminds us of another time, doesn’t it? Another time in the Book of Judges when the Midianites filled the valley, and the Lord uses Gideon and just a handful of men to take the victory.

Well, a man of God, this is the second of three prophets, Verse 28 says, “A man of God came near, spoke to the king of Israel.” That’s Ahab. Said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Arameans have said, “The Lord is a God of the mountains, but he is not a God of the valleys,” therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord.'”

That’s the message from prophet number two. It’s, “Hey, here’s the promise and here’s the purpose. The promise is I’m going to give you the victory. You’re just a couple of flocks of goats. You’re going to go, ‘Meeeh’ and literally win the day. That’s all you got to offer. That’s all you have in terms of power and might. You’re like a bunch of fainting goats. I’m going to give you the victory, but here’s the reason: I want you to know that I am the Lord your God.” You see how hard God is working to awaken someone who is ignoring Him and has ignored Him and is going to continue to ignore Him?

See, we’ve read the end of the story. We know that right? Spoiler alert. So, “they camped over against the other seven days and on the seventh day the battle was joined and the sons of Israel killed the Arameans. 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.” And that’s because, folks, the odds never matter to God. You can apply that in any situation. This is the God who speaks everything into being out of nothing. The odds never matter to Him. When there is nothing, He creates everything by the power of His word.

And six times in this chapter, it’s the God who speaks that we’re learning about. We’ve learned in other chapters in this study as well. It’s the word of the Lord that becomes so important here. Well, 100,000 foot soldiers fall. Verse 30: “The rest fled to Aphek into the city and the wall fell on 27,000 men who were left.” That’s an echo of another battle that we learn about in the Book of Joshua, isn’t it? That reminds us of the kinds of things that no one ever thought would happen because a little band was marching around the city.

No one ever thought that was possible from the inside. They had no clue that could happen. And yet God does things that we can’t even imagine he would do. And 27,000 men die as the wall falls on them. Benhadad though, fled and came into the city into an inner chamber. A servant said to him, “Behold, now we’ve heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, ropes on our heads and go out.” Ropes on our heads would be a sign of submission. You can drag us away by these ropes. We’ve already put the ropes around our own necks. And we’ll go out to the king of Israel and perhaps he will save your life.

Listen, it’s really good that their reputation was for being merciful. I think that’s good in general, and I think that’s especially good in interpersonal relationships. Really important in interpersonal relationships. But we’re not talking about interpersonal relationships here. We’re actually talking about war and it’s never pretty. It’s never easy. It’s never simple like a lot of people think it might be. And so, here’s what happens: They girded on the sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant now…” It’s no longer thus says Benhadad. It’s, “Your servant, Benhadad,” says, “please let me live.” And then Ahab’s response, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

He just elevates him from servant to brother. He’s really going the extra distance here. Now, the men took this as a moment and quickly catching his word, said, “Your brother, Benhadad”. Then he said, “Go bring him.” They brought Benhadad to him. He took him up into his chariots. He literally invites him into his SUV and they’re going to have a chat. And they’re going to talk about some terms on how they’re going to move forward. Here, just let me point out, Ahab, how much has he consulted Yahweh himself?

None. It’s not a trick question. Has he thanked Yahweh? No. Is he acknowledging Yahweh at all? No. The Lord sent him two prophets, but he’s not looking for Yahweh. He’s not interested in what Yahweh is directing him to do at all. So Benhadad gets up in the chariot with him. Benhadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father, I will restore and you’ll make streets for yourself in Damascus or you’ll make markets for yourself in Damascus,” which is the capital of Syria. “As my father made in Samaria, which is your capital.” Ahab said, “And I will let you go with this covenant, with this promise, with this agreement.”

So, he made a covenant with him, and he let him go. “Now, a certain man of the sons of the prophets…” first time we hear that phrase, and yet we’ll be hearing it a lot, those of you who decide to join us in our study of 2 Kings, which will be done in a Sunday school class at the 9:00 hour and we’ll tell you more about that in the coming weeks. But that’s where we’ll hear a little bit more of that term, “sons of the prophets.” And they said to one another by the word of the Lord, “Please strike me.” This this is prophet number three, the unnamed prophet. And he says to another brother of his, he says, “Strike me,” and it’s going to be because the Lord wants him to.

The man refused to strike him. “And he said to this man, ‘Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.’ And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.” Raise your hand if you have a question about what just happened. I really like it when I’m not alone. Let’s read. I’ll come back. Then he found another man, this guy and he says, “Please strike me.” And of course, whether that man saw what happened to the first man or not, whether the lion is still sitting there licking his chops over the first guy, I’m not sure, but this time when he says, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him.

And the prophet departed and waited for the king. By the way, that is he went by a roadside knowing where King Ahab was going to come by, and he disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. Now he looks like somebody who’s been out in the battle. Now he looks like a wounded soldier, somebody we ought to stop and listen to and thank and all that sort of thing. And the king passed by, and he cried to the king this guy, this third prophet unnamed, suggesting that he has been wounded in battle.

He says, “Your servant went out in the midst of the battle and behold a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man. If for any reason he is missing, then it’s your life shall be exchanged for his life or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’” Now I ask you, again, do you have some questions? I do have some questions. I also think there are some pretty good answers, and I’ll do my best in just a moment to try to answer. It’s fascinating to me that in this particular case, that little detail about you can also pay a talent of silver. This is called a ransom. This is something that we see writ large in the person in work of Jesus who ransomed sinners such as we are.

He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves and sometimes in living parables, living models, the good work that Jesus does is foreshadowed even all the way back. This is like 2,900 years ago you guys. So that’s pretty amazing. “While your servant was busy,’ he says to him, ‘He was gone.’” So, in other words, “I got real busy.” He’s talking to the king, “I got real busy and the prisoner escaped.” Well, the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.” In other words, it’s your life for the life of the prisoner that got away.

He hastily took the bandage away from his eyes and the king of Israel recognized him. That means that he was one of the sons of the prophets and that he was of the prophets. And some have said this is Micaiah and it may indeed be. We don’t know for sure though. It could be. He said to him, “Thus says the Lord.” This is the prophet speaking to the king. The king who has ignored God, the king who doesn’t thank God, the king who isn’t interested in Yahweh at all.

And he says to that king, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand, the man whom I, Yahweh had devoted to destruction. Therefore your life shall go for his life and your people, for his people.’” This is so reminiscent of a previous time as well. King David either kidnaps and rapes Bathsheba or however you want to describe what happened there, but he took another man’s wife, and the prophet Nathan confronts him later and says something about a poor man with a sheep, only one sheep. And here’s a rich man, he had lots of sheep, but he stole the poor man’s sheep and he put it to death and ate it for a meal.

What should be done to that rich man? And King David is like, “That man should be punished.” And Nathan the prophet says, “You’re the man.” He tricked him with a story into seeing, “You are the one that did this.” And that’s what this prophet is doing with Ahab. You are the one that didn’t do what God wanted you to do in the midst of all of this history that’s happening.

I still have questions by the way, if you have questions, I still have some questions. Verse 43: “So the king of Israel went to his house.” And he’s described the way that he went to his house. There’s two words used here. Yours may or may not be the same English words I have. “The king of Israel went to his house, sullen and vexed.” I like that. I like it because I don’t use those words very often.

So, he goes home to Samaria. He goes home to his palace after this prophet has told him that the Lord is actually going to mete out his judgment on him, Ahab. And Ahab returns to his palace and pouts. He was clueless in victory. Now he’s completely confused and pouting and self-centered in every way about what has just happened here. So, he comes to Samaria. We’re going to see a lot more coming, but I got to fade to black and there’s plenty for us to learn here from this one particular text, if you’ll allow me.

When you consider the overall biblical narratives, you can’t help seeing that here’s a life that has been pursued by God and yet you find yourself going, “I don’t get it. Why would God do that? This is a man that doesn’t recognize or acknowledge or bow before Yahweh. Why would God do that?” And that’s because in this passage I think we see the surprising, relentless grace of God. And here’s my four points, I want to give them all to you and then I’ll just talk about them each one for a minute.

But in His surprising and relentless grace, we often see that God is more merciful than we think He should be, more powerful than we believe He could be, more just than we sometimes want Him to be, and more wise than we ever imagined He could be. All right. Let me spell that out just a little bit for us. Here’s Ahab who, I think, falls into that first category as an observer of what God does in Chapter 20.

I see somebody who’s ungrateful, ignoring God on every hand. All of us have given to somebody and they never thanked us. All of us have probably also been on the other side of that. All of us have gone, “Oh, I’m going to send in 11:30 pm texts because I forgot to say thank you for that kindness or whatever it might be.” We’ve all done this, or three days later or a week later or whatever it might be. Here’s a king who, only once or twice can I say that, if you’re being really generous with him, that we read from the narrative that he seems to lean in the direction of what might be the right thing or a little bit.

But for the most part he is at odds with God and he’s going the other way. He’s ungrateful in every way. I heard another Bible teacher quote from this writer named Chris Fabry. I do not know Chris, but he wrote a book modeled slightly in a humorous way after Stephen Covey’s book. Some of you have read this book. It was a mega bestseller, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I like this guy’s book because he wrote a book for, I think it’s for Christians. I’m pretty sure it is. It’s called the 77 Habits of Highly Ineffective Christians.

I like this. I actually think this is helpful when we look at this story right here. Let me read from the one entry of those 77 habits. One of them is this. “If you want to be an ineffective Christian, be thankless.” He writes, “In all my years of analyzing truly ineffective Christians, I’ve yet to find one who has been thankful for anything.” This is a hallmark of spiritual inadequacy. If you were to sit down right now and list the blessings in your life, no matter what circumstances you are in, you would no doubt need reams of paper and stacks of pencils.

“This is why I say never…” And remember, he’s writing if you want to be an ineffective Christian. “This is why I say never ever sit down and list the blessings in your life. It can only lead to thankfulness, which you must spurn. Do not be thankful for God’s faithfulness. If you see a miraculous answer to prayer, quickly forget it. Do not record it or tell others about God’s goodness. Do not be thankful for current material blessings like a roof over your head or food on the table. Do not compare yourself with those in the world who do not have such blessings. Instead, compare yourself with the few who have bigger dwellings in you, or better furniture than you, or more attic space than you have. Do not be thankful for your spiritual blessings. Do not be thankful for God’s Word but whine about the fact that you’d rather live in the Old Testament days when you could hear the audible voice of God.

“If you are single and desire a spouse, do not be thankful for the freedom you have. If you are married and pine for singleness, do not be thankful for the provision that you have. Remember, it is much easier to keep the fire of thanklessness going when you stoke it with an attitude of ingratitude. Action point. Make a list of the things you’re not thankful for today and share them with a friend.”

And then he closes with what he calls an ineffective hymn. It’s called Count Your Problems. “When upon life’s pillows, you are lying down. When you are in comfort and without a frown, add up all the negatives you think you see, and you’ll be surprised at just how mad you can be. Count your problems, name them one by one. Count your many problems, scorn what God has done. Count your many problems. Make the list real long. Count your many problems while you sing this song.” Amen.

I thought that was pretty funny. From our perspective some 3,000 years later, close to 3,000 years later and this biblical story that we’ve just paid attention to a little bit, I think it’s pretty easy for us to see that we sometimes have a bit of Ahab in us. Maybe you’re here today and you don’t even have that. Maybe you think you’re all Benhadad all the way. And if that’s you, I’m really glad you’re here. I’m glad we’re all here.

I know for myself there are times when I look back and just like driving on a long road trip and all of a sudden, I come to my senses and I’ve driven 13 miles and I can’t remember any of them. Sometimes that happens to me spiritually too. I look back and I say, “Oh my gosh, I just missed everything God did.” He’s busy doing things all the time. I mean, it’s just so brilliantly amazing. One of our favorite Bible teachers, a guy named John Piper, says it this way, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life. You may be aware of three of them.” And that’s right. That’s so true. He’s busy doing so much.

Some people would say, “Oh, He’s so busy, He can’t possibly even know what’s going on in my life.” And yet, here’s what the Bible claims, Jesus said it this way: “Even the hairs on your head are numbered.” He didn’t say counted, He said numbered. That means each hair on your head has a number. Now, a lot of people go, “Ah, that’s impossible.” And yet if I say to you one of the characteristics of this God of the Bible is that He’s infinite. I don’t think we have the foggiest notion of what infinite means if He can’t count and number every one of the hairs on my head. I think that means God is that aware of everything that’s going on in His creation and it’s all His. There isn’t a square inch of it that He would say belongs to somebody else. No, it’s all His and you’re a part of that and I’m a part of that too.

Believe it or not, even in this story that we have read today, even people like Ahab who are ungrateful and who are not turning to Yahweh at all, even with all the overtures of Yahweh giving him all of those victories that Ahab is clueless about, the Lord is still faithful to His promises. What I would say for us is this: Like Ahab, we should be very careful. We should not mistake the patience of God with us for the approval of God in terms of what we are doing in our lives. Sometimes our life is going along pretty well, and somebody comes up to us, a brother, a sister, a family member, a pastor, whatever, and says, “Bro, you need to watch that. You need to be careful about that.”

We slough it up because we think our life is going pretty well. And we think we’ve got the imprimatur of God Almighty, the holy God. We think we’ve got His blessing, and actually no, we are just living in His patience at the moment. We need to be careful about that. Don’t mistake the patience of God with you for the approval of God for you. We must be careful not to flout the kindness and mercy of God’s patience towards us. Ahab taught me that. He didn’t mean to, but the Holy Spirit used him to teach me, and to hopefully teach all of us, that God is more merciful than I think He should be, sometimes when I look at Ahab, when I look at a lot of people in the world in which we live.”

Here’s the thing, again, I want to drive this home. Please understand how eager God is to be merciful and gracious to you. You’re sitting here today and you’re thinking maybe He can’t be merciful to you. I’m here to tell you, you’re here today not by accident. None of us are. The infinite God ordered your steps and ordered my steps to lead us here today. He actually knows I’m here. He knows you’re here and He’s here among us, according to Jesus, because two or three or more are gathered in His name.

So why don’t we believe what He says about Himself when He says, “If you confess your sins, I’m faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from…” How much? “…all unrighteousness.” Why don’t we believe Him? Why don’t we trust Him in all of that? The problem with Ahab and the problem with Benhadad boils down to ego. I think we see that. I think we learn that pretty quick. There’s a lot of ego there. But for every bad person there can be a good example that comes out of their life, like Ahab.

I think he’s a pretty bad person, but I think he’s a good example of what not to do and I need some examples of what not to do as well as some instruction about what to do. I’m that way. Perhaps you’re that way as well. I want to purpose, not to become callous and indifferent to Yahweh, to the God of the Bible, to Jesus, my Savior, my Lord, my Redeemer. I don’t want to become callous. I don’t want to become the Christian that’s sung all these songs so many times, been in this building so many times, that it no longer sinks in. I no longer engage with the Lord in worship.

Why? Because I’ve done it a thousand times and I’m taking Him for granted. How about you? Can I stir you up? Can I awaken you? If you want a bigger ego, I can actually tell you how to have a bigger ego before God, how to become a bit indifferent toward Yahweh. You can think and talk and act without reference to God this week. If you want edging God out to be the way of your life, like Ahab’s was edging God out, if you want that to happen: avoid hearing from God by reading the Scriptures. Just don’t open your Bible this week.

Just let this be the only bit of Bible you get this week right here. I’m just going to tell you, it’s not enough. It’s not enough for me, and I don’t think it’s enough for any of us. Avoid humbly seeking and communing with God in prayer. I’m good at, “Here’s my list of things for you to do today, God.” I’m not so good at sitting quietly and listening for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit to bring Scripture to mind and speak to me, and for it not to be about my agenda, but about His agenda and about what He wants to communicate to me.

If you want a pathway to a bigger ego, it might also include avoiding any engagement with a community of faith. You guys are here, you’re engaging with a community of faith. But can you think of somebody that used to come here? Because I can. Can you think of somebody that’s been missing for a long while? I can. I don’t want us to shame them, but I might want us to call them and remind them because we love them and we love God, and we want to connect the worship that they probably desire to give. They just don’t know they do. We want to connect the worship they want to give with the God that deserves their worship.

Anytime God has been gracious to you, Verse number 5, don’t stop and give thanks. This is Ahab. Simply move on. Growing deeper into despair. That’s where he is in verse 43. He goes back to the palace to pout, and here’s what I’d say: Let’s don’t go back to our palace to pout. Let’s come to His table and give thanks. Let’s do that more often and watch what happens when we pay attention to the God who is there, to the God who’s eager for us to come to Him.

Just a few quotes and I’ll wrap this up. Dale Ralph Davis, one of my faves, on 1 Kings, he says, “1 Kings 20 teaches me I must get clear about God: about His grace (vv.1-22) – it surprises me, for I don’t understand it, held out to even as it is like the likes of Ahab; about His power (vv.23-30) –it rebukes me because, Syrian-like, I try to limit it; about His judgment.” He’s only the God of the mountains. He’s not the God of the valleys. He’s only the God of the mountains. He can’t come into my world, my conflicts, my frustrations, my impatience. He can’t come into that. He’s just the God of justification by faith or He’s just the God of Sunday attendance at church.

I think what we want to do is stir ourselves up to see that the God of the mountains is also the God of the valleys, and the God of the plains, and the God of the rivers, and the God of the streams, and the God of the gazillion stars that hang up there and the God of every single one of the 120 million rods that are in this eyeball right here and in every one of your eyeballs. He’s that God. He’s that great. He’s that amazing. Syrian-like, we try to limit His power though. “…about His judgment – it should sober me [just like this passage does] even though, like Ahab in my own culture, I try to dismiss it.”

Keller: “God relentlessly offers His grace to people who do not deserve nor seek it.” That’s Ahab. And that’s me when I’m being like Ahab, “…nor even appreciate it after they’ve been saved by it.” Is that you? Have you drifted into that space in your spiritual life? If you came here today thinking you were going to get the big “Give me a J” talk, the “Give me an E, give me an S…” Jesus-cheer stuff or whatever; we don’t do that here. We study through books of the Bible because we need the whole council of God, because the whole council of God leads us to Jesus, who’s the greater king, the one we really need; the Savior, the Redeemer, the one who did for us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

And finally, from Tripp, “The next time God surprises you, don’t doubt His goodness, faithfulness, and love. Lift your hands to the heavens and celebrate. You’re being rescued. You’re being loved. You’re being delivered. You’re being transformed. And be thankful that since nothing can separate you from His love, there are more gracious surprises to come.” Somebody say “Hallelujah!” Amen.

Let’s pray: Lord, thank You. You just keep bringing surprises in Your grace and mercy our way. Lord, we are eager. This passage, as dark as it is in the behavior of some of those people, and yet as bright as Your behavior is, as bright as Your grace and mercy are in this passage, we are drawn to You, to the campfire of Your love and warmth, the warmth of Your grace. We are drawn to You, and we need You. So, Lord, some of us may need some encouragement to see You as the forgiving and gracious God that You are. Some of us may need some clarity to see our way back to You. Is Jesus, only Jesus? And so, I pray that You’d open our eyes to see that. And Lord, as we prepare to come to the table and be reminded of the finished work of Christ on the cross, I pray that we would rejoice as we repent. And as You restore us and refresh us, we give You thanks. Amen and amen.