1 Kings 20:23-43

Have you ever known someone who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity? That was King Ahab of Israel. Even when God stooped to help him and give him a great victory over the Syrians, Ahab ruined it by disobeying the LORD. Ahab failed to learn his lessons.

The Syrians made the fatal mistake of saying that the LORD was God of the hills but not God of the valleys. They mustered an army to battle Israel a second time. But a prophet of the LORD told Ahab that because the Syrians said this, He would give their great army into Ahab’s hand. Then all Israel would know that Yahweh is God. Of course the Syrians would know this as well!

When the army of Israel stood before the vast army of Syria, they appeared like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country! Nevertheless, Israel killed 100,000, and when the remaining Syrians fled into the city of Aphek, the wall fell down on them, killing 27,000 more! Clearly, the LORD had given a great victory to Ahab and Israel. All this occurred because the LORD wanted to prove that He was not only the God of the hills, but also of the valleys.

The LORD wants to prove Himself faithful at all times of our lives. He also wants to glorify His name throughout the earth. If we would truly please God, then above all else, we must seek His glory. We will not seek our own glory, pleasure or comfort. Rather, we will seek to glorify the great name of our Savior.

Ahab could have learned this vital lesson, turned from the worship of Baal, and sought after the LORD. Instead, he made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria whom the LORD determined to destroy. Even when the LORD condescended to help Ahab, he failed to learn.

I pray that we would learn the lesson that the LORD is God on the hill of Sunday and in the valley of the rest of the week. And I pray that He would help us seek first the glory of Christ in all that we do.