Is There Not Still a Prophet of the Lord Here? (2 Chronicles 18)                                                                  2008.06.15      Dr. George Fox

Looking at 2 Chronicles 18, we see an account regarding King Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, as he allied himself with King Ahab, of Israel.  This was during the time of Jewish history in which the kingdom was split between the Northern (10) Tribes and the Southern (2) Tribes, where Jerusalem was.  According to the account, Ahab desired to attack Ramoth Gilead and wanted Jehoshaphat to commit the armies of Judah to join him in the effort.  However, Jehoshaphat had one request before making such a commitment: can we consult a prophet of the Lord?

Ahab proceeded to gather his own prophets who always said the words that he wanted to here.  However, Jehoshaphat wasn’t satisfied with them because they were not prophets of the Lord.  The only one that was such a prophet was a man named Micaiah.  However, Ahab didn’t like Micaiah because he never said anything Ahab wanted to hear.

After consulting with Micaiah, it was revealed to Ahab that it indeed was the Lord’s desire for Israel to go into battle, but not to be victorious, but to lose, and for Ahab to lose his life.  This is exactly what happened to him, even despite his efforts to hide himself and disguise his appearance.

The lesson for us resides not in the evil intent and actions of Ahab, but of Jehoshaphat’s foolish decision to ally himself with evil men.  He compromised himself and rebelled against the word of God by making alliances with wicked men.  He had a desire to secure his kingdom, to gain wealth, and wanted to do it by his own means.  Although he was regarded as a good king, he made the same mistake as countless kings of Judah before him, and all of the kings of Israel.  With his eyes set on the material wealth a king could acquire, he turned his eyes away from following the Lord.

On the flip side, we see in 2 Chronicles 18 and 2 Kings 9 what happened to Ahab and Jezebel, the rebellious royalty of Israel.  They were both killed in humiliating and despicable ways, demonstrating the power of God in judgment against those who despised His word.

For the men today, on this Father’s Day, what can we learn from Jehoshaphat’s example?  We see that there may be nothing more important than for us, who are called to lead our families, to take a stand for the Lord, to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.  How many of us lead our families in a time of “Family Altar,” which is a family devotional?  How often do we lead our families in a short time of reading Scripture and praying together as a family?  If we Christians do not take the leadership reigns in our families to lead them in the ways of the Lord and to raise up our children according to His word, we’re in trouble.

My challenge is to the men today: Will you take a stand and speak for the Lord, on His behalf?  Our children are constantly being bombarded with counter messages from school, music, the internet, and other sources.  If we don’t try to counter-balance those forces and provide our children with positive input, who will?

You fathers, will you commit yourself to be a man in your own home, to lead them in reading Scripture and praying with them on a regular basis?