listening

1 Kings 22 is such a good picture of how we often listen that it cracks me up. The king wants to know if he should go to war. So he decides to ask the prophets.

6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"
"Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand."

7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?"

8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah."

Jehoshaphat seems to be a good sort of dude and he seems to recognize that the 400 prophets are not prophets of the Lord. Now, how he knew that I don't know. Maybe intuition?
Anyway then the king of Israel (Ahab) says that there is one but he hates him because he never prophesies anything good for Ahab. Interesting how he blames the prophet and does not take the blame himself. He does not recognize or repent of his sin. It is like he is hardened to it. But he does seem to recognize the Micaiah is a true prophet of the Lord.

So they decide to go get Micaiah:

13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably."

14 But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."

15 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"
"Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand."

16 The king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD ?"

17 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.' "

18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"

So, they go get M. and the messenger counsels him to say good things to the king. He says he won't, but then he does. So he prophesied the good that Ahab said he wouldn't and then Ahab doesn't believe him! So Ahab is being a bit complex here- he wants him to say good things, but then doesn't believe him when he does. Then when M. does tell the truth, Ahab doesn't like it. It's pretty much lose-lose for M. and Abah sounds like he's deceiving himself pretty much!

How often do we do that? Only listen to what we want to hear. And when we hear bad things, and KNOW it's God, we blame someone else.