Today's Devotional
July 20, 2005
Subject: Hearing God - Be Sure It's The Almighty God
1 Kings 13:21-22 - "And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers."
It's difficult to grasp the essence of this devotional from the verses above. You'll need to read the entire chapter of 1Kings 13 to understand it more clearly, but to summarize, a prophet, referred to as a man of God, prophesies against a king. The king attempts to arrest the prophet and the king is stricken with a hand disease. The king realizes that the prophet has caused this with his power so he asks the prophet to restore his hand, which the prophet does in short order. The king then asks the prophet to be a guest for dinner in his home and the prophet refuses, stating that God has told him not to trace over the same path, but to go a different way when he returns home. The prophet clearly understood what God said. Later on a man hears about the adventures of this prophet and he finds the prophet and asks the prophet to come over for dinner. The prophet tells him that he can't because God has told him not to go over the same path, but to go a different way when he returns home and the man says, (paraphrased) "well I'm a man of God too and God told me that it's okay." So the first man of God says okay and goes over the man's house to eat and that's where the verse above comes in.
How many times have you heard what God said and then listened to someone who came along with what God said to them which contradicted what God said to you? I've had that happen to me and, while God can clearly speak to us through others and often does, we should be sure that we know what God has already told us. If we know what God has told us then we can't be confused by what people, the world or anyone else says that God told them. God is one, speaks with one voice and will not contradict himself.
To end the story in 1Kings, the man of God, after leaving the other man's house for dinner, was on the road and was killed by a lion on the way home for disobeying the real command that God had given him.
There are lots of voices out there today: talk show hosts, movie stars, politicians and even preachers, telling us what to do. Some of them are in direct contradiction to what we know God has told us. Like the prophet, the price for disobedience is high, so the next time you hear a voice or someone tells you what God said, be sure it's The Almighty God and not that person's imagination. Don't be a victim of the lion or the lying.
Carlen