“The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, speak favorably.” (1 KINgs 22:13 NIV)
The kings were preparing to go to war. Israel and Judah had banded together to defeat a common enemy: Adam. Four hundred prophets had told them exactly what they wanted to hear: they would win and Aram would be defeated.
King Jehoshaphat wasn’t quite convinced. He noticed the lack of the Lord’s prophets. The text infers that all four hundred prophesying were false prophets, or soothsayers, fortune tellers at best. We realize that though Ahab had humbled himself a bit before God (1 Kings 21:29) he had not led the nation in returning to the Lord. In fact, he was still on very bad terms with God’s prophet.
Jehoshaphat refused to proceed without hearing from the Lord. (Way to go, King J!) At Jehoshaphat’s insistence, Ahab reluctantly summoned Micaiah, the prophet who “never had anything good” to say about him. Jehoshaphat reminded Ahab, this was not the attitude a king should have.
Micaiah came on the scene and he was warned by the messenger: it’s all good here, just go ahead and agree with what is already in motion. Micaiah’s response was awesome and indicative of the way modern day believers should deal with the increasing social pressure in our own nation.
“But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.” (1 Kings 22:14 NIV)
Micaiah was far more concerned with pleasing the Lord than saving his own skin. When the king inquired about the battle under consideration, Micaiah basically said the Israelites would win but Ahab would die. You can about guess how well that went over with the toddler-tempered tyrant king. King Ahab threw the Lord’s prophet into prison on a bread and water diet until he returned safely from the front. Which he never did.
Micaiah was willing to suffer for the sake of right standing with God. After this last encounter with Ahab, Micaiah disappears from scripture altogether. (His account is repeated almost verbatim in 2 Chronicles 18). We are left to presume that the prophet Micaiah lived out his days in a dead king’s dungeon, forgotten by everyone but God.
Who else’s opinion really matters?
At the end of this life, isn’t the Lord’s opinion of us the singular vote about our eternity?
Last weekend I was tapped last minute for pulpit fill. I wound up preaching on Luke 23 and three types of people: Pilate (a people-pleaser), Herod (a self-appeaser) and Jesus (a God-pleaser). In our time together, we came to the conclusion that only God-pleasing secures the victory. Jesus overcame the enemy because of His commitment to please God only.
I look at Micaiah’s life-altering interaction with a corrupt human king and I see a God-pleaser, don’t you? And yes, it came at a price but it also included a glorious payoff. Wikipedia proposes that Micaiah is included in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11:32) and I tend to agree. Micaiah stood up to a tyrant king and told him God’s truth. And I suspect God is spending eternity making good on Micaiah’s sacrifice.
As a recovering people-pleaser myself, I am admonished. I wonder, would I stand up to an Ahab? Will I tell the truth about God to an unbelieving people? Can I continue to live out God values and commandments in a post-christian culture?
Micaiah helps me remember that this life is but a vapor, a passing mist. And I want to spend what breath I have pleasing God. Apparently the payoff is huge; it’s eternal. Right relationship with the Almighty is well worth any discomfort it causes here.
“We are not trying to please people, but God, who tests our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NIV)
Lord, please help us abandon our people-pleasing tendencies altogether. We want to please You, to live for Your approval alone, even if it includes suffering for Your name’s sake. So be it. Please strengthen our ‘yes’ response to You and weaken the opinions of others in our minds. Reign supreme in our story. Amen.