By The Mercies Of God

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KJB Daily DevotionFollowing Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Chapters: I Kings 20-21
Message: By The Mercies Of God

Hello My Friend,

Over the centuries God’s judgments have seemed a bit odd and scary, which is why so many people reject Him, they have a hard time understanding how a “Loving God” can allow so much evil in the world and take the life of innocent people. To understand God’s judgments is to understand God in the first place, He had different ways in which He addressed people over the ages, that is because of the way He chose to deal with people at that time. God is always the same, His judgments are just, meaning they conform to His divine law, sin is sin, there is punishment for sin, repentance is the only option to be saved, and if God has to place fear in people by using immediate judgment, that is what He will do. Honestly, God is more merciful to us than we deserve, as wicked as the world is He could wipe out the earth in the blink of an eye, but by His mercies He will not do that until the last soul to receive His Son is saved. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” – II Peter 3:9-10.

God uses many means to get the world to see that He not only exists, but is in control of all things, the good and evil. He used the king of Syria to show Ahab that He is not only merciful, but gives all a chance to repent. The king of Syria, along with the thirty-two other kings joined forces to take control of Israel, they gathered together, made war with Israel, and demanded Ahab hand over everything, including his wives and children.

And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have. And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.– I Kings 20:1-6.

I am thine, and all that I have.” The wicked are quick to give up all their possessions to save their own lives, willing to sacrifice the lives of others to save their own lives. Nations always lose their freedom out of fear, first by the people of that nation and their lack of faith, and then by the leaders who corrupted the nation in the first place. We had a president who turned their back on Israel out of fear that he would be attacked by their enemy. Our current president was quick and wise to restore our relationship with Israel, they may not understand the Biblical impact of aligning with and protecting Israel, but they do know a nation that stands by Israel is protected. Let me tell you, we cannot give in to the demands of the enemy, if we trust God, He will deliver us, but if we turn our backs on Him and give in to their demands we will lose everything we have, and more then just our possessions. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:– II Peter 2:9

Did you ever wonder why God seems to bless the wicked? It is not that He blesses them, it is that He proves to them that He is the only living and powerful God. There is a saying, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” God will bring blessings upon the wicked in order to get some to bring others to Him. God was about to prove to Ahab, that as wicked as he is, He is merciful and will deliver Israel from Syria. In two battles, God helped Israel defeat Syria in order to get the nation to turn away from their false gods and back to Him.

And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left.– I Kings 20:13,19-20,22,26,29-30.

and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.You see, God allows deliverance to the wicked in an attempt to prove who He is to the world, and get them to repent and turn to Him. As much as He hates sin, He does not want to see any soul in hell. Why? He created all of us, He holds each one of us dear to His heart, it pains Him to see any of us reject Him, including those who reject Him and live wickedly. The torture a soul will receive in hell is a thousand times worse than any punishment anyone will ever receive here on earth, and including natural death. Yes, God made hell for wicked evil, but He will save a soul in an instant to keep it from ending up in hell, which is why He sent His Son to bring repentance on any soul who receives Him. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” – Romans 5:8-9.

God’s intent in delivering Israel was to get Ahab to repent and then turn the nation back to Him, but Ahab never heeded the call. Instead of turning to God he kept making foolish decisions, first by sparing Benhadad’s life and making a covenant with him (this would prove unwise as Syria would eventually take Israel), and then by taking an innocent mans life so he can get his land, actually it was his wife Jezebel that had a part in that.

And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.– I Kings 21:4-7,14-16.

I will not give thee my vineyard.Yes, Naboth took a stand and lost his life, but I believe God allowed that to keep Naboth from being expose to more repercussions of Ahab’s foolish decisions. And even through all this, God was still merciful to Ahab, God sends Elijah to Ahab to tell him that that stunt his wife pulled would be the death of him, her, and his entire family.

And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.– I Kings 21:19-24,27-29.

because he humbleth himself before me,” Ahab humbled himself before God and was saved from seeing the evil that would take place for his foolish decisions and his family destroyed. God knows when we truly repent of our sins, and it is only when we repent of them that He will change His judgment. Some judgments are waved when we humble ourselves before Him, others will not be, we may not always understand His judgments, that is because our human mind is just incapable sometimes, but we can understand that by His mercies we are saved.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” – II Corinthians 7:10,11.

Jesus Christ Magnified: Today, Jesus is revealed through the unnamed prophet who prophesied victory to King Ahab (20:22). Jesus controls our victory, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – I Corinthians 15:56,57.

Today’s Prayer: God, You know my heart, You know my faith, and You know my desire to love You with all my heart, mind, and soul, but there is not a day that goes by where I am not being challenged to change what I believe. People mock me, tease me, and constantly try to test me to see if I will stand by You. I know I am not perfect, and I mess up every day, but by Your mercies I am protected still. Lord, give me Your power, mercy, grace, and strength to get through this and every day standing strong. Even when I slip, I know You are there to pick me up and get me back on my feet again. Let me not lose sight of You in anything that I do. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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