February 7 – Ahab – I Kings 16:29-34, 20:1 thru 21:29
Ahab was the 8th king of the Divided Kingdom of Israel. There have been six other kings between Jeroboam and Ahab. Two of those kings were assassinated, and one committed suicide.
Ahab was characterized as more evil than all other kings before him. The Bible states that Ahab did more to provoke God to anger than all the kings before him. He began this reputation by taking lightly his sin of marrying Jezebel and worshipping the false god she brought into his kingdom. As Christians, we too often fall into the trap of thinking our sin is not as serious, wrong, or wicked as the sin of homosexuality, murder, or some other blasphemous sin. We cannot allow ourselves to step into the same trap that so thoroughly gripped Ahab. We must see sin as God sees it.
Ahab humbled himself in 1 Kings 21:27-29. Notice that although Ahab did not experience evil in his own days because of his repentance, his sin did not go unpunished. His sons reaped the great harvest of evil that Ahab sowed.
Here we find yet another example of someone putting their own desires before God’s desires. An easy enough fix would have been to be focused to place God first in the priorities list. Let me encourage you today to Please God on purpose!
