{"id":35236,"date":"2025-03-24T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35236"},"modified":"2025-03-18T22:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T05:13:22","slug":"1-kings-21_15-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-21_15-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Life When Who Humble Yourself Before God"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings\u00a0 21:15-29 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 21:15-29.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 21:15-29 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Elijah the Tishbite:
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Say to him, ‘This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood–yes, yours!'”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel–slave or free.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“And also concerning Jezebel the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0(There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the\u00a0LORD\u00a0drove out before Israel.)
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Elijah the Tishbite:
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a015-29:\u00a0 Having murdered Naboth, Jezebel urges her husband Ahab to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.\u00a0 God sends Elijah to speak a word of retribution against Ahab for the way he and Jezebel murdered Naboth and stole his vineyard.\u00a0 Elijah prophesies that as punishment for Ahab’s and Jezebel’s sins, God would cut off every male from Ahab’s line (v21-22) and cause the dogs to eat Jezebel’s flesh (v24).\u00a0 Having heard God’s Word, Ahab humbles himself before God, confessing and repenting of sin (v27).\u00a0 God notices the way Ahab humbles himself before Him.\u00a0 In His mercy and grace, God decides not to bring the disaster He had proclaimed against Ahab’s family during Ahab’s lifetime but reserves it for later (v28-29).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1. It’s amazing that God would show such mercy to a man like Ahab, especially when verses 25-26 say “There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord…[and] behaved in the vilest manner”.\u00a0 It goes to show that as great as our sin is, God’s mercy is that much greater.\u00a0\u00a0If we will humble ourselves like Ahab in response to Jesus the Word of God, we can experience incredible mercy from God\u00a0<\/strong>and can be spared the punishment we deserve for our sin.<\/p>\n

2. Ahab would call Elijah “my enemy” (v20), when actually Elijah was one of the best friends Ahab ever had.\u00a0 That’s because\u00a0a\u00a0true friend speaks the truth that you need to hear, even when you don’t want to hear it.<\/strong>\u00a0 Elijah spoke the truth that Ahab needed to hear, and this truth led Ahab to change for the better.<\/p>\n

3. Also, it is to see Elijah in a much better place personally.\u00a0 The last time we saw Elijah was in 1 Kings 19 where he was depressed, feeling desperate and wanting to die.\u00a0 But having found physical, spiritual, mental and emotional rest as God encouraged him to, Elijah is back and in full strength.\u00a0 He\u2019s able to courageously face Ahab, the very man he had run from before.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With God\u2019s help, there is life and hope after burnout and depression if only we would listen to God and let Him restore us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You that, no matter what we’ve done, mercy and grace are available to the worst of sinners, including me.\u00a0 Thank You for friends in our lives who speak those tough truthful words we need to hear, so that we can humble ourselves before You and find You again.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 21:15-29.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Kings 21:15-29 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.”
\n16\u00a0\u00a0When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Elijah the Tishbite:<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a015-29:\u00a0 Having murdered Naboth, Jezebel urges her husband Ahab to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.\u00a0 God sends Elijah to speak a word of retribution against Ahab for the way he and Jezebel murdered Naboth and stole his vineyard.\u00a0 Elijah prophesies that as punishment for Ahab’s and Jezebel’s sins, God would cut off every male from Ahab’s line (v21-22) and cause the dogs to eat Jezebel’s flesh (v24).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35239,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35236\/revisions\/35239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}