by Josie Hills

As I read the verse for today I noticed a similarity between Ahab King of Israel and myself. God’s purpose in giving Ahab victory was to know “That I am the Lord” (vs. 13). How often do I recognize God as the Lord of the circumstances in my own life? How often do I see His purposes?

Ahab was willing to keep peace by granting Ben-Hadad’s 1st request. (vs. 3-4) He didn’t even get a chance to get a response before the 2nd unreasonable request came (vs. 5). Ahab didn’t seek counsel till after the second threat. Again, I often just “keep the peace” until I’m overwhelmed and then seek the Lord’s counsel. Can you relate?

I pondered vs11 for awhile, what the heck did it mean? My take is that “it’s not over till its over.” We don’t know the truth in God’s eyes of our circumstances till later on. We shouldn’t assume anything. A tough one for me in my humanness, I so often want to assume the outcome.

Ben-Hadad thought he had the perfect plan in place. So he kicked back with his kings and got drunk while the plan for victory was being carried out. How often have I set ‘my’ plan in place and then became complacent waiting for results?

God used ordinary people to give witness to himself as Lord and bring glory to Himself. These young officers of the provincial commanders were probably not only young but without experience in battle. Plus, they were so few, compared to the armies of Ben-Hadad. He had 32 kings allied with him! But they won the battle and don’t think they weren’t afraid. Look at the odds. God showed His faithfulness in His word to Ahab through ordinary people who were willing to obey. Hmmm…. I’m pretty ordinary, how about you?

Do I welcome God’s word in the Old Testament to teach me today? May you hear God’s voice ‘for you’ today in these scriptures.

Your fellow traveler,
Josie