Gain Favor or Do Good?

I Kings 22:8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him: for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil…

Gain Favor or Do Good?

I Kings 22 is the story of Ahab, who, as always, was determined to get what he wanted at any cost and surrounded himself with those who would never say “no.” This time Ahab wanted a city, Ramoth in Gilead, which had been captured in an earlier battle. So, he made an alliance with the king of Judah, and he inquired of the Lord to find out if God would bless this foray to gain back the city.

He asked the prophets, “What does God want us to do?” The prophets said, “Oh king, God is all for it. You’re going to do wonderfully and prosper.” Well, these prophets weren’t telling the king what was true; they were telling the king what he wanted to hear. So his friend said, “Isn’t there a real prophet of the LORD to ask?” The king’s answer was, “There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him: for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”

Ahab did not want to hear the truth; he wanted to hear what he wanted to hear.  A man destroys himself when his selfish tendencies are never curbed, and they were never curbed in Ahab. His wife helped him get whatever he wanted at any cost, and now these false prophets did the same. So Ahab went into battle, ignoring the instruction of God through this true prophet, Micaiah, and ended up getting killed.

The lesson that stands out to me in this is that you can gain someone’s favor with falsehood, but you can only do him good by giving him the truth. Here were all these prophets who told Ahab what he wanted to hear. They weren’t trying to do him good, but were trying to gain favor. When someone wants favor, they aren’t trying to give you something, they are trying to get something from you. On the other hand, when someone wants to do good, that is something he must give. When I do good, I’m giving. When I try to gain favor, I’m getting.

I’d encourage you to choose giving over gaining, and to choose doing good over getting favor. Who had Ahab’s favor? Ahab favored the liars. Who was Ahab’s friend? Miciah was Ahab’s true friend, but Ahab put him into jail. You may not be a king, but you can learn from this king not to lock someone away merely because they give a truth instead of trying to gain favor.