Living Upright in an Upside Down World
Micaiah – 1 Kings 22
Truth does not need updating. A man came to his old friend, a music teacher, and said to him, “What’s the good news today?”
The old teacher was silent as he stood up and walked across the room, picked up a hammer, and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded throughout the room, the teacher said, “It is A. It is A today; it was A five thousand years ago, and it will be A ten thousand years from now.
“The soprano upstairs sings off-key, the tenor across the hall flats on his high notes, an the piano downstairs is out of tune.”
He struck the note again and said, “That is A, my friend, and that’s the good news for today.”
Truth never changes because Truth flows from the nature of God and that never changes.
How do we live upright in an upside down world? The prophet Micaiah will inform us that we hold to the truth, we teach the truth, and we ought to be willing to die defending the Truth.
BAD COMPANY – 22:1-8:
King Jehoshaphat was (basically) a good king but the evil he did was largely influenced by his relationship with King Ahab. At the point 1 Kings 22 begins, God has sent Elijah or some other prophet to Ahab at least seven times! And Ahab, at the point chapter 22 begins, has received the grace of God. But, we know that Ahab’s repentance was not very deep.
Bad company compromises our character, as it does with King Jehoshaphat. It compromises our: morals, our reputation, and our influence.
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Before they go to war against Syria, Jehoshaphat wants to hear a word from the Lord. Four hundred false prophets tell them to “go!” Something tells Jehoshaphat he needs to look further. “Is there not a prophet of Jehovah of which we may inquire?”
“There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord,” Ahab responds, “but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah” (vs 8).
THE FALSE AND THE TRUE – 22:9-14:
Every man who claims to be a teacher of God has to be put to the test (1 John 4:1). But, man likes to make up his own tests for what is true and what is false…
Look at the messenger’s plea to Micaiah in verse 13. “Tell the kings what everybody else is saying!” But Micaiah’s response is straight from the heart of God: “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” Observe the “what” is the same as the “that.”
When we speak on God’s behalf, we better make absolutely sure what He says is the same as that which we speak (1 Peter 4:11). For example, if, when asked, “What must I do to be saved?” a man does not give a response that is the same as Peter’s response in Acts 2:38, that man is not teaching the truth!
How do we live uprightly in an upside down world? We have the courage to speak what the Lord says. If the world forgets who we are, the Father in heaven will yet inscribe our name in the Lamb’s book of life from whence no man on earth or demon in hell can erase.
–Paul Holland
