Inconvenient Truth

“But Micaiah said, ‘As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak.’"—1 Kings 22:14

To follow Jesus, we must learn to speak truth no matter what the cost. As the Scripture says, we are to be “speaking the truth in love”—Ephesians 4:15. “Speaking the truth in love” means telling someone the truth because you care about them. The opposite is someone lying because of love. If we love someone, we want to tell him or her the truth. If a person has cancer and there is a cure, do I tell him that there is no cancer because I don’t want him to bear the news? No, I tell him about the cancer because I love him and want him to get better as soon as possible.

In today’s passage, the prophet Micaiah is summoned to give God’s perspective on an impending battle. King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were preparing to go to battle and recapture the city of Ramoth Gilead from the King of Syria. King Ahab gathered almost four hundred prophets of Asherah around him who were prophesying in his favor, telling him to “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king”—1 Kings 22:6. In the midst of their prophesying, King Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?" (v. 7). Ahab responded,  

“There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil" (v. 8).

Ahab dispatched a messenger to get Micaiah. Upon his return with him he said, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably" (v. 13). Micaiah could have responded with many things. He could have agreed with the messenger, but he didn’t. He said, “As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak" (v. 14). He didn’t care whom he was to address, or what everyone else said. He only cared about what God told him to say.

One wonders what was going through Micaiah’s mind as he approached the gates of Samaria. All around him the prophets of Asherah were prophesying. And sitting before them all were the two kings—Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Did Micaiah feel the pressure to agree with the prophets of Asherah? After all, his life could well have been at stake. Who knew what King Ahab would say?

Surrounded by prophets all around, the king quiets down the prophets and questions Michaiah as to what course of action to take: "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” (v. 15). Micaiah’s words drip with sarcasm: “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king" (v. 15). Frustrated by his sarcasm, Ahab responds, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" (v. 16).

The time had come to tell Ahab the truth. The prophets of Baal and Asherah were wrong. There would be no victory. Instead, there would be defeat. And just to make sure that Ahab understood what was going on, Micaiah describes to him the throne room of God and makes sure that he knows it was God behind it all. God had decreed Ahab’s death and there was no turning back (v. 23).

Angered at Micaiah’s words, one of the false prophets walks up and slaps him in the face, saying, “How did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?" (v. 24). Micaiah responds, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself” (v. 25). Micaiah is quickly arrested and sent to prison with orders to make sure he has been given only minimal bread and water until Ahab returns in peace. In response to his command Micaiah says, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me. Hear, all you peoples!” (v. 28).

Micaiah stood for truth in the midst of lies. He refused to compromise the words God had given him to say, even if it meant his own life. Jesus spoke an inconvenient truth to a lost world as well, and on a much greater scale. And the world hated Him because of it. Early in His ministry He said,  

“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify about it that its works are evil”—John 7:6-7. 

And then later He said that we, too, would be hated:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”—John 15:18-19.

Jesus wanted us to stand for truth no matter what the cost. It would involve being misunderstood, persecuted, possibly imprisoned, and even killed. But in the end, truth would prove to be victorious. God will be vindicated, and all who stood for truth will be honored by God.

Are you willing to stand for truth in the midst of a culture of lies? Are you willing to speak an inconvenient truth to a world that rails against God’s commands? Are you willing to side with the Savior even if it means suffering in this world?

Only those who stand firm for Christ and with Christ will experience the blessing that comes from obedience. And only those who stand firm will be honored by God. May each one of us care more about the truth of Christ than we do about cultural acceptance. And may we find rest, strength, and satisfaction in the knowledge that God will honor those who stand for Him—no matter what the world does. Amen.