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Outnumbered IX

 What came next for Micaiah is no surprise. He likely expected it, although it’s kind of odd that the guy who fashioned iron horns for himself seemed to be most offended of all. If you go through all the trouble of making a fool of yourself, at least have the decency to be silent when you get called out. It takes boldness and courage for one man to stand against four hundred, knowing that the king was likewise on their side, looking for you to validate them and him. It’s one of those instances that reveals the true nature of a man beyond any words he might speak or outwardly airs he might put on. Micaiah was a faithful servant and, in his obedience to God’s message, understood that divine validation is far more significant than human approval.

Men having no shame and doubling down on their foolishness is not a new malady. It has been around since the beginning of creation because one of the hardest things for an individual is to admit that they were wrong, misled, deceived, or otherwise duped into saying or believing something that was not factually true. And so they dig their heels in and become ever more disjointed and aggressive, trying to defend an indefensible position. Their ego, their pride, and their flesh just won’t allow them to humble themselves, and so they descend into deeper deceptions to maintain their original position.  

1 Kings 22:24, “Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you?”’

I wonder if Zedekiah was still wearing the horned apparatus when he struck Micaiah on the cheek. It holds no bearing on the overall exchange, but it’s one of those things that’s easy to imagine and chuckle at, given his reaction.

Micaiah did not react in the flesh. He did not hit back, he did not attempt to defend himself, nor did he try to explain what he had seen or give more information than what was previously shared regarding his vision. There was no attempt at convincing Zedekiah or the others that he was indeed a prophet of the Lord or that what he had seen was true. Micaiah’s duty was to deliver the message, not to convince others of its authenticity. Once the message was delivered, his duty was done, and any further discussion on the matter was wholly unnecessary. God will defend His own words. He does so by bringing them to pass, no matter how many stood against His messenger or how vitriolic their reaction to him might have been.

Do your duty. Anything beyond that is God’s territory and not something you should concern yourself with—the how and the when are up to Him. What you must concern yourself with is walking in obedience and being faithful in delivering the messages He speaks to you as He speaks them to you. Micaiah understood this. It wasn’t his first rodeo, and he’d likely been in similar positions before, given the king’s hatred of him.

I wonder if, during their previous encounters, after having spoken a word of warning or repentance to him, Ahab went to his four hundred prophets to inquire of the Lord whether what Micaiah had said was true. I likewise wonder how many of them pandered to the king, hoping to gain his favor, and assured him that Micaiah was making a mountain out of a molehill and that the Lord saw his heart and intentions or that He understood the weakness and frailty of man.

If you’re looking to circumvent the authority of God, you’re bound to find someone who will give you license to do so. The same goes for the Word as well. The caveat is that you won’t be able to use their words to justify rebellion when standing before the Almighty because a thousand men may say something different, but if God said it, that is the barometer and the standard to which we must adhere.

‘God said’ should suffice in every instance. Well, so and so said this and that, but what did God say? But you don’t understand. This person has a doctorate in theology and is reimagining scripture for a modern audience. All well and good, but what did God say? See how that works? You choose what you allow into your heart, you choose what you allow into your mind, you choose what you feed your spiritual man, and if it’s not the truth and the word of God, the more time passes, the more the truth and the Word will seem foreign to you.

It becomes like trying to drink lemonade after eating a bag of Oreos. Your palate becomes so accustomed to the sugar that even though the lemonade is not tart or bitter, it seems so because of what you previously ingested. The truth of God’s word seems bitter to some because they’ve been subsisting on a steady diet of fluff and self-centered, self-obsessed, self-adulating, self-aggrandizing drivel that convinced them that they were the center of the universe, and God exists to serve them, rather than the inverse.

Ahab had surrounded himself with lying liars, and when he heard the truth, it grated and felt foreign to him.

1 Kings 22:25-28, “And Micaiah said, “Indeed, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide!” So the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son; and say, ‘This says the king: “Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace.” But Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Take heed, all you people!”’

One of the most fascinating things to me when it comes to the prophets of the Old Testament and the things they had to endure for speaking a true word from the Lord is their reaction to the manner in which they were treated for it. Micaiah didn’t try to defend himself, protest, plead his case, or insist that he was being put in prison for nothing more than doing as Ahab had asked.

If you expect a world full of lies to reward you for speaking the truth, you’ve got another thing coming. You speak the truth fully expecting to be hated, maligned, villainized, and made to seem less than human by the godless who receive your words like nails on a chalkboard. Even among what you suppose are God’s people, you will find those who will react as those of the world because, lest we forget, Zedekiah was considered a prophet of the Lord along with the other 399, and he was the one who mocked, then proceeded to slap Micaiah across the cheek for daring to go against the grain. This is the inevitable path of those who speak the truth.  

In moments such as these, don’t look to men to defend you because only God can. Micaiah’s answer was straightforward, without a hint of trying to keep himself from being imprisoned or defending himself personally. If what I said would happen doesn’t happen, then I didn’t hear from the Lord. The proof is in the pudding. It always is, and no matter how many voices said otherwise or insisted that it could not be so for one reason or another, you know the Lord has spoken a thing when it comes to pass.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 18 September 2024 | 8:31 am

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Mike's 25 Latest Blog Posts

1. Oct 15, 2024 - Job XXI
2. Oct 14, 2024 - Job XX
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17. Sep 25, 2024 - Job V
18. Sep 24, 2024 - Job IV
19. Sep 23, 2024 - Job III
20. Sep 22, 2024 - Job II
21. Sep 21, 2024 - Job I
22. Sep 20, 2024 - Outnumbered X
23. Sep 18, 2024 - Outnumbered IX
24. Sep 17, 2024 - Outnumbered VIII
25. Sep 16, 2024 - Outnumbered VII

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Oct 15, 2024 - Job XXI
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