By Whatever Means He Chooses

1 Kings 22:19-23

19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of
the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne,
and all the host of heaven standing by him on his
right hand and on his left.
20 And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that
he may go up and fall at Ramoth–gilead? And one
said on this manner, and another said on that
manner.
21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before
the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.
22 And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he
said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou
shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and
do so.
23 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying
spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and
the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

Ahab, the evil king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, had gone too far, and God was about to carry out His death sentence upon the wicked monarch. Micaiah, a true prophet of God, had warned Ahab that he was about to die, but Ahab continued planning his war with Syria. At this point, Micaiah received a vision of God in heaven asking for volunteers to draw Ahab into this battle in which he would die. A spirit (an evil deceptive one) stepped forward and volunteered to deceive Ahab by causing his prophets to lie to him. In the end, Ahab listened to his prophets' lies and it led to his death in battle.

It seems strange that God would use a deceiver to carry out His divine plan. The Bible teaches that God by His very nature cannot deceive anyone. However, the Bible also teaches that God can use any means He chooses to bring His plans to fruition.

We can take comfort in the fact that God asked the spirit, "Wherewith?" before allowing it to work its deception. This shows us that the Lord has complete authority over everything in creation and that no thing or no one - even evil spirits - can do anything without God allowing it. Count on it - our God is in complete control.

All praises, glory and honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ forever and ever.

Reference: 365 Essential Questions From The Bible, p.11,
www.barbourbooks.com

The Grim Reaper Preacher says, "Try reading the Bible from cover to cover - you'll like it."