1 Kings 13

I asked my dad what chapter he thought I should write about and he suggested the lying prophet. It is pretty crazy. I mean certainly a cautionary tale not a role model. Read this carefully and see where he went wrong.

He heard God directly give him specific instructions. He boldly obeyed and delivered the bad news. He miraculously healed the king's hand that had miraculously withered. He resisted the temptation of the offers of food. Went home the long way without food or water and then, WHAT? Another prophet LIES to him and makes him disobey the orders he had from God. Even though he was tricked, he suffered the promised consequences of getting killed and buried away from his hometown. BTW, his prophecy about Josiah and the bones all comes true later so God did speak through him further proving he had heard God correctly.

It's easy to say how ridiculous that it is that this guy would take such bold action on God's words only to chump out at the end. But we do this all the time I'm afraid. When God tells us to do something crazy like give sacrificially to charity, take in a foster child, sell our house and get a smaller older one, or pay back thousands of dollars to cover someone else's mistake to honor God's integrity, the people who try to talk us out of it are Christians. Now this guy was just a straight-up liar it seems, but even so, the man of God should have stood by what God had told him no matter what God supposedly told someone else. Even if people try to say, God hasn't told me I can't listen to whatever kind of music I want, that doesn't mean I can disregard the convictions He's given me.

The bottom line is, if you don't hear God for yourself, you should. Jesus said His sheep hear His voice. Not might. Spend time until you know God has spoken. And when He does, no matter how crazy or difficult or pointless it seems, you have to obey. And to the rest of us, we can't talk our fellow Christ-followers down from that obedience.