April 26, 2021: Day 51 – II Chronicles 18

We find one of the few times in Scripture where the divided monarchy of Israel (the north) and Judah (the south) fight together united against a common enemy, the king of Aram.  Before they go into battle together they ask the prophets to prophecy whether they should go into this battle or not.  They all agree that God was going to give them the victory.  But king Jehoshaphat, the good guy, asks if there is another prophet that they could listen to.  He gets a sense that these prophets were basically hired to do the will and the bidding of the king and not really true spokespeople for God.

In comes Micah who says he can only speak that which God wants him to speak.  He says that Israel will be scattered across the land and destroyed, but does not say much, if anything, about Judah.  There is a somewhat entertaining scene as Ahab tells Jehoshaphat that this prophet doesn’t like him and only prophecies unkind things for him.  Sure enough, that prophecy comes true.  

Notice that the king of Israel goes into battle undercover and the king of Judah goes decked out.  The King of Judah cries out when he is being pursued so they know he can’t be anyone who is important, and by chance the king of Israel is stabbed in a significant place.  It is really difficult at times to be able to discern what is of God and what is not of God.  We can’t really ask God to show us his truth, I mean, we can, but we don’t always recognize God’s glory and God’s truth revealed clearly.  We wish we could.  Most of the time our desires get in the way.