Today’s Devotion
Topic: Desist From Absolute Claim To The Voice Of God!
Text: 1 Kings 22: 24 (NLT)
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. “Since when did the Spirit of the LORD leave me to speak to you?” he demanded. Amen
Ahab, king of Isreal, pleaded with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to join him in battle against the King of Aram. But the latter wouldn’t decide until they inquired of the Lord. Ahab therefore assembled about 400 prophets and inquired if they should go to war. “Go”, they answered, “for the Lord will give it unto the hands of the king”.
Zedekiah, one of the false prophet, advised King Ahab of Israel to attack the Syrian army at Ramoth Gilead (1 Kings 22:11). He made himself horns of iron and said, “The Lord says, ‘With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.'”
When Micaiah, a true prophet of God, was called on, he gave a disasterous prediction of the outcome of the battle for King Ahab and Israel. Zedekiah heard this and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, saying, “Has the Spirit of the Lord, then, left me to speak with you?” (1 Kings 22:24). But eventually the battle, in which King Ahab was mortally wounded, ended up as Micaiah predicted.
Beloved, how could Zedekiah even imagine that he had more access and right to the Spirit of God than Micaiah did? Was it not too arrogant when he demanded to know how the Holy Spirit would leave him and speak to Micaiah? Meanwhile between the two, he was rather very wrong and God had not spoken through him at all.
As we can tell, the situation is not so different today. Many many people, pastors and prophets, all over the airwaves claim to be the sole spokespersons of God. Now that’s a problem but what is worse is that they condemn all others who give a contrary (but divine) view as liars, imitators and pretenders. It must be their claim about what God is saying or it is not from God. Why? Because they are the ordained mouthpiece of God.
Now that is a very dangerous position to maintain especially in our days when God has said He will pour His Spirit upon all flesh so that our sons and daughters prophesy, old men dream dreams and young men see visions (Joel 2: 28).
Although we do not know what happened to Zedekiah after his false prophecy, at least we can tell from his kind around us that before long, they make themselves the demi gods until pride and greed creep in and cause their downfall.
Therefore “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Like the Berean Jews, confirm from scripture any claim you hear as coming from God.
You remember how they “were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17: 11). So, by all means, “do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess 5: 20- 21).
Meditate on this word and begin to pray. First for yourself that you are not deceived by every claim that comes in the name of God. And secondly for the church, that we will be able to discern between that which is from God and what is not.
Our God does not contradict His Word.
