lectio divina::07/02

lectio divina:: sacred readings


last night before youth group I went to outback and had some wings, watched some sports, and opened the scriptures. I read 1 kings 19-22, and I was interested in God’s relationship with a man named ahab.


ahab was king of israel. he did not love God, he loved a pagan god named Baal. his wife was jezebel. she also worshipped baal- and she hated God’s prophets- especially one named Elijah. she swore to have him killed.
in 1 kings 20, ahab gets into a war of words with another king, ben-haddad of aram. you would think that god would just sit up there in heaven and watch these two kings that hated Him fight it out to their deaths, but He doesn’t. the crazy thing is that even though ahab worships Baal and threatens Elijah, God loves ahab and longs to be near him. so God sends a prophet to ahab saying, “this is what the Lord says: do you see all these enemy forces? today I will hand them all over to you. then you will know that I am the Lord.”


God was willing to help ahab, so that ahab would come near Him, and see that He is the true God.
and the battle was won, but ahab did not thank God or give Him credit.
then there was another battle- and ahab was outnumbered, yet israel still won, and ahab continued to ignore God. and instead of destroying ben-haddad, like God commanded, ahab and ben-haddad become friends.


so this is the last straw. God sends another prophet to ahab saying, “this is what the Lord says: because you have spared the man I said must be destroyed, now you must die in his place, and your people will die instead of his people.”


later ahab bullies a man named naboth out of his property, and jezebel has naboth killed. more strikes against ahab. this time elijah comes by saying, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight. so now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you…I am going to destroy your family … for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.”


this time ahab is finished right?
wrong.
1 kings 21: 27 “when ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted… then another message from the Lord came to elijah: “do you see how ahab has humbled himself before me? because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. it will happen to his sons; I will destroy his dynasty.”


God loved ahab even though ahab hated him. yet God longed to be gracious to Him and to spare him. while ahab was practicing evil against God’s law and His servants, God was exercising grace and mercy to ahab.


reminds me of a verse on the other side of the book, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (romans 5:8)


we get into this mode of thinking where we think that God operates on the karma system. do bad and get bad. do good and get good. but God operates on His own system, that doesn’t add up to us sometimes: do good and be loved. do bad and be loved; grace.


I don’t deserve it, but I’m not passing it up.