Marking Moments with God

Based on 1 Kings 20-22, Psalm 69

God did so much to make Himself known in Israel during the time of king Ahab, but the king really refused to stick with God. We need to mark the moments in life where we've seen God intervene...if we don't take the time to recognize God's hand upon us, then we will honestly get lost in ourselves and ultimately have no direction...He is the God at our highest and at our lowest, and we can see throughout these passages that God is always in control!

"Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent." 1 Kings 20:7‭-‬8.

Ahab wanted the elders to mark, or remember, what Ben-hadad king of Syria had so pridefully asked him for. At first, Ahab did not deny him, but of course Ahab did not want to give him all the things he asked for (kind of like a bully threatening for lunch money). So, Ben-hadad prepares for battle against Ahab & Israel...and that's where God speaks to Ahab:

"And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the Lord , Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou." 1 Kings 20:13‭-‬14.

It seems like Ahab could be getting a little closer to God at this point...but later we will see that Ahab has trouble completely following through with the plan. Also, in looking closely at these verses, we can see that God is not doing this to make Himself known to Ben-hadad, He is doing this so king Ahab will know that He is The Lord! As king of Israel, God's people, he shouldn't need this sort of wake-up call, and Ahab should have marked this moment with God for the future!

"And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee." 1 Kings 20:22.

The prophet told Ahab to again, mark & remember, what he is doing, because he is not done yet! Ben-hadad would be back, although Israel did win a victory against Syria. This is where Ahab makes a mistake: he ends up making a covenant with Ben-hadad! But first, once again, a man of God comes to speak to Ahab (it seems he had many "wake-up call" moments like this!):

"And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord." 1 Kings 20:28.

Remember, he is God in the highest & lowest places! He is in control! Again, this was a message God was trying to relay to Ahab: "and YE shall know that I am the Lord"! But after Ahab makes a covenant with the enemy, another prophet speaks into Ahab's life:

"And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria." 1 Kings 20:42‭-‬43.

Ahab had a lot of moments where he felt heavy & displeased, and that's because he was so worried about pleasing himself (or his wife Jezebel) instead of pleasing God! God has all the goodness we need! We don't even know what we need as much as God knows...there was a particular time where Ahab must have marked a moment with God, and that is after Jezebel had a man named Naboth killed because Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard. God spoke to Elijah the prophet to prophesy very harshly against Ahab & Jezebel for this, and Ahab actually humbled himself:

"Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house." 1 Kings 21:29.

Ahab's humility did not last, and the next prophet Micaiah which was sent his way gave him a word he didn't want to hear. Micaiah told him he shouldn't go up to battle, while all the other false prophets said it was fine (telling Ahab what he wanted to hear). Micaiah was thrown in prison, and Ahab died in battle. We don't get far serving ourselves! Make memories with God, and mark those moments in your heart...they are the only things that matter in the end!

"Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." Psalms 69:20.