When God speaks (Part II)
The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house. (NIV) 1Kings 13:18-19
According to the Wise man (King Solomon), every word of God is flawless and thus the caution not to add to God’s word lest we are rebuked and found liars (Proverbs 30:5). And for that reason, all that we need for life and Godliness has been given to us. (2Peter 1:3)
In the previous devotional, we learnt a few lessons about total obedience to God’s word, watchfulness against falsehood and deception and proper verification of claims made by ‘men of God’. The times are indeed perilous but we have much hope and relieve through the assuring word of God. There are still some timely lessons from the encounter between the man of God and the lying old prophet in 1Kings 13.
The man of God impulsively accepted a message from ‘an angel of the Lord’ instead of holding fast to the flawless word he received from the Lord Himself. Many people in our time are bent on clinging to the words of ‘prophets’, ‘angels’ and ‘spirits’ without paying any attention to the word of God. The apostles of the Lord Jesus exhort us to beware of such attitude. Paul mentioned that ‘But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!’ (Gal. 1:8) ‘And you will do well to pay attention to it (the word of God) …’ (2Pet.1:19)
Again, it was so obvious what the Lord expected the man of God to do. A command not to eat or drink water could mean nothing but a fast. (1Kings 13:9) The man of God was expected to be engaged in some spiritual exercise including fasting (and likely meditation on God’s word, reading of scripture and prayers). He just took things for granted. In connection to our times, do we ward off lies and temptations through frequent spiritual exercises (diligent Bible study, prayer, fasting, etc.)? The Lord Jesus meant it when He stated, ‘pray that you do not fall into temptation’ (Matt. 26:41) and also certain situations require full spiritual concentration and time in prayer. Thus, ‘… except by prayer and fasting’ (Matt. 17:21)
Finally, the prophet of God spent too much time with unwholesome communication from the old prophet. Any opposing word to God’s declarations becomes unwholesome. It may not be recognized as such by superficial attention. The immediate reaction we should put up against evil communication and lies is to cut it short before they find place in our hearts. James describes this whole idea succinctly: ‘Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’. (James 4:7) The Lord Jesus did same by saying, ‘Away from me, Satan!’ (Matt. 4:10a)
Let us do well to open our hearts when God speaks. And may we choose to follow the commands of the Lord with all diligence. Stay blessed.