Outnumbered V

 1 Kings 22:14, “And Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”

It’s not that Micaiah was being dishonest with the messenger; it’s that the messenger heard what he wanted to hear in Micaiah’s answer. Since he was likely among those who would assume that four hundred prophets couldn’t possibly be wrong, Micaiah’s insistence that he would speak whatever the Lord spoke to him made him conclude that he would echo the rest and speak encouragement to the king. His confirmation bias was so strong that he did not, for one second, consider that if Micaiah spoke whatever the Lord said to him, it might be different from the other prophets who were at that time trying to stand out in some form or fashion.

Many today say they want to hear from the Lord, but what they really want is to have their own opinions, ideas, and theories echoed back to them. When the Lord truly speaks and what He says is contrary to what they believe, they’ll be the first to shake their fists at the heavens or outright deny it was the Lord speaking in the first place.

This was not a message from the Lord because I didn’t like what the message contained. If it were a true message from the Lord, it would have agreed with my view of everything and praised me to boot. Therefore, it could not be from Him. Perfect circular reasoning, isn’t it?

It’s human nature to be biased toward something that praises us rather than something that chastises us. Unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool masochist, you’d rather hear an adda boy than a do better any day of the week. What’s more, we will embrace the adda boy even though we know it’s undeserved, and there was nothing praiseworthy in our conduct or effort to warrant it. It doesn’t matter that the individual prophesying over you only has good things to say or that the words are so general they can apply to seven out of the eight billion people on the planet; he’s real because you want him to be real.

Then, if he’s real, or you’ve concluded that he is, perhaps all those doom and gloomers talking about repentance and holy living aren’t right after all. Surely, a real word from God through a real man of God wouldn’t praise you and charge you with being the prophetic voice to the nations if there was anything that needed to be pruned in your life.

You’re okay, just the way you are! There is no need to humble yourself, study the Word, spend time in prayer, or work out your salvation with fear and trembling. No sir, the prophet said as much, didn’t he? All that stuff is for the newly enlisted, the babes in Christ. You’ve graduated so far beyond that basic understanding of servanthood that you can even justify habitual sin to yourself.

I wonder if some of Christendom's big names that have fallen recently would have progressed to the level they did had a man of God called them out on their duplicity and compromise. Perhaps some, even most likely, would have, given man's nature, but had just one been rebuked to the point of repentance, it still would have been a net positive.

That’s another thing worth noting: one either surrounds themselves with slavish yes men or with men of character who will keep them accountable. Ahab had surrounded himself with four hundred lickspittles who echoed his sentiments back to him. Somehow, one made it through who spoke the word of the Lord to him, and Ahab hated him for it.

You can tell a lot about a man by who he surrounds himself with, who he allows to speak into his life, and whether he accepts the counsel of others or is just looking for an echo chamber. It also takes someone of immense character to speak the unabashed truth to someone who holds their job security, their future, and even their freedom in the palm of their hand, knowing that the truth they have to speak is a hard one.

The worst thing you can do for yourself and your spiritual man, especially if you are in ministry, is to surround yourself with people who will look the other way when they see something not in line with scripture begin to take shape in your life, and who will not call it out.

It’s also essential to choose your inner circle wisely, knowing whether you’ve opened your heart to an Aaron, a Hur, or a Brutus. It sounds complicated because it is. Not everyone who comes out of nowhere insisting that they’re there to help, to come alongside you, and take some of the weight off your shoulders comes along with pure motives and absent an ulterior motive. You may want to jump at the chance of having a little help after so much time doing it all on your own, so much so that you don’t stop to ask the Lord whether He approves or not, only to find yourself mired in all manner of trouble a short time later because the person who insisted they were simply there to serve turns out to be anything but a servant.

You’re likelier to get severely wounded by friendly fire than by enemy fire, because the friendly fire tends to come from much closer than the enemy fire would. While you’re looking outward, trying to see the enemy’s movements and intuit where his next attack will be coming from, it’s a shock to the system to feel the searing heat of a projectile hit you in the back because you weren’t expecting it.

A man without scruples will always try to take something he didn’t build rather than build something himself. It’s easier that way. Whether it’s a business, a ministry, or a church, beware of the intent of men’s hearts and not the glowing words they speak to you and about you.

All the niceties can turn on a dime once the individual in question believes they have enough support for a hostile takeover, and for them to be seen as an apt replacement, they must tear you down and malign your character to the point that you spend more time defending yourself than doing the work of the ministry. Once that occurs, they will be the first ones to point out that you’re falling short of everyone’s expectations, not doing the work you were tasked with doing, and that, too, is disqualifying.

Wolves are akin to politicians. They’ll say whatever they have to, whether it’s the truth, a perversion of the truth, or an outright lie, to get their way and achieve their goals. They will twist every word that comes out of your mouth, and if, perchance, you decide to defend yourself against their lies, they’ll inquire as to why you’ve become so defensive all of a sudden.

Micaiah was not vying for Ahab’s position. He didn’t want to be king, yet Ahab didn’t take any of that into account. He hated Micaiah for speaking the truth and delivering the messages from the Lord with which he had been tasked, but because they were never positive or encouraging, he sought other voices who would validate his choices. It would seem he found four hundred of them.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.