January 27, 2023

Passage Read: 1 Kings 10-13
Meditation Verses: 13:16-18

Thought

How easy it is to doubt a word of God, especially when it makes my life a little inconvenient or uncomfortable. Scripture doesn't say how long the journey was for this prophet from Judah, but he was commanded not to eat in Israel, to prophesy against the Jeroboam's altar, then return without food or drink. He was on foot and didn't make it very far on his way home before the second prophet caught up with him. At the second prophet's insistence that God had changed His mind, the first prophet agreed to return and eat. What did he think to himself to justify going against the original instructions? He wanted to obey the Lord, and it just so happened to make his life easier, and it was not the first time God had given a command, then halted it (Abraham sacrificing Isaac), and God was kind and considerate, right? Surely he was having mercy on the prophet! Only, He wasn't changing His mind. There was a reason He didn't want the prophet eating or drinking in Israel, but the prophet didn't discern that.

Application

I need to trust the Lord, that He has thought all the angles through when He gives a command. He knows when it'll make life difficult, and He is willing for us to suffer, to test us and try us, to refine and prove our faith, and as a witness to the world that God is worth any and every sacrifice. I must not be duped into disobeying the Lord or His clear Word, especially when it serves to convenience my flesh or my wants and wishes. God is not trying to make faith and obedience easy, to fit with what I naturally want and wish, but He's calling me to take up my cross daily and follow Him. My flesh and His Spirit are not on the same page, and He wants me to put Him first, trust and obey Him and discipline my flesh.