Seeking God's Will

Seeking God’s Will
1 Kings 22: 1 – 18


I. Introduction.

When I was in seminary, Baylor University sponsored an extensive survey of all preaching professors from every college, university and seminary in English speaking countries. The survey asked these preaching professors to select the Most Effective Preachers in the English language. The final list was known as the Twelve Most Effective Preachers.

Then Baylor invited each of these 12 preachers to come to the school and receive an award, to preach in a special evening service on campus and to preach in the seminary chapel. Most of them accepted the invitation. (As I recall, Billy Graham was the only recipient who could not come. I remember his having health problems at the time.)

Since I was a seminary student at the time of the survey and the invitations to preach in chapel, I had an opportunity to hear 11 of the 12 most effective preachers in the English speaking world. (I only showed up to about half of the sessions—so, I probably hear only six of the twelve.)

The first preacher to accept the invitation to Baylor was Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, retired chaplain of the U. S. Senate and former pastor of a large Presbyterian church in Hollywood, California. In seminary chapel, Dr. Ogilvie talked about the relevancy of preaching. In his talk, he suggested that preaching is relevant when it does two things…

First, preaching must proclaim the Word of God…

Second, preaching must answer the questions people are asking. Answering questions that no one is asking is not relevant.

Dr. Ogilvie used to conduct surveys in his Hollywood congregation. He would ask the church to respond to one question: What is the biggest question in your life right now?

I periodically think about doing the same thing…That is, to ask you to share with me the biggest questions in your life. Maybe you should email them to me. Or, maybe we should put a suggestion box out in the church foyer. I did this with my college students in Waco in 1996. I asked them to write down the biggest question in their lives.

Perhaps it will not surprise you what the college students asked. An overwhelming majority of students who responded (over 80%) asked the same question: What is God’s will for my life? (One student was much more specific: I am graduating from college in two months, what does God want me to do next?)

In some ways, this is a timeless question. After all, we all want to have assurance that God has a plan for our lives, and we want to be obedient to God’s will.

In other ways, this is a timely question for us as a church. We are dreaming about the future. We are coming to terms with the fact that some of our efforts as a church are not as effective today as they were 10, 20 and 50 years ago. We want to do something new, which will help us to be faithful to God’s mission and purpose for our church. We are even going to observe 40 days of prayer for our church during the season of Lent—from Ash Wednesday, March 9 through Easter Sunday, April 24.

We are going to pray for God’s will for our church. But, do we really know how to seek God’s will?



II. Read 1 Kings 22: 1 – 4… For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. The king of Israel had said to his officials, "Don't you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?" So he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."


Ahab was still king of Israel… Ahab had led Israel in several successful campaigns against the Arameans…But had made one mistake…

After the final defeat of the Aramean army, Ahab allowed the king of Aram to go free… The result of this decision brought an unnamed prophet to the king’s palace to pronounce God’s judgment on Ahab & Jezebel…The dogs would eat them…

Because Ahab did not follow God’s will in utterly destroying the Arameans, the enemy still occupied a stronghold in the land of Israel…Ramoth-Gilead.

Ahab invited the new king of Judah to help in a military campaign against Aram to regain a city that blocked a major trade route into both Israel and Judah…



III. Read Verses 5 – 12… But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the LORD." 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." But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?" 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." "The king should not say that," Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, "Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once." Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, "This is what the LORD says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.'" All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. "Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious," they said, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand."


Jehoshaphat had a good idea…Let’s call on God and ask what his will is.

I want you to notice something significant in verse 5…The word LORD is in all capital letters…This is the way all modern English translations translate the Hebrew word, Yahweh.

There are 2 other Hebrew words which we translate into English as Lord, Baal and Adonai…But these are usually written in lower case or only the “L” is capitalized… The reason is to distinguish between the title “lord” and God’s name, Yahweh.

I find this significant because just a few chapters earlier we read about a confrontation between Elijah and 400 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. In the end, these 400 prophets were killed, and Baal worship was removed from Israel…

However, Ahab observed a perverted worship of Yahweh… The people were allowed to worship in high places and use idols. Therefore, these 400 prophets are probably corrupt prophets of Yahweh… More than likely they had been trained to tell King Ahab exactly what he wanted to hear…With one exception…There was one faithful prophet named Michaiah.

When Jehoshaphat heard the words of the 400 prophets, he didn’t exactly believe them…Something about their prophecy seemed fishy.

Therefore, he asked for a 2nd opinion…But Ahab didn’t want a 2nd opinion, because he knew it wouldn’t be good.



IV. Read Verses 13 – 18… 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." But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me." 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." 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?" 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.'" The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"


When the messengers of Ahab found Micaiah, they coached him a little as to what he was to prophesy…It was as if the messengers said, “Just go along with what 400 other prophets have already said re: this matter.”

I like Micaiah’s response to the suggestion…He said, “I can only say what God says to me.” I must remain faithful…I must be truthful.

I think this is probably one of those Scriptures that is meant to be humorous…We cannot see the humor in it unless we read it in a different tone…Read v. 15 in Sarcastic tone…

The humor comes in 2 ways…

1. Micaiah probably used sarcasm to communicate.

2. Micaiah told Ahab exactly what he asked for, but Ahab did not accept it as the truth…Sometimes we know what the truth is…We just don’t want to listen


Then Micaiah told the truth…And it was exactly what Ahab had expected…It was bad news…

God did want Israel to go into battle…But God did not plan for Israel to win that battle…The battle was for the purpose that the original prophecy re: Ahab could be fulfilled…He would die in battle and dogs would lick up his blood.



V. Conclusion.

I see this story as an important story to us even today…It illustrates, in a negative way, how a godly person should make decisions…The 2 kings in the story BOTH chose incorrect ways to make decisions. So, what is the right way?

I learned some words of wisdom this week, which I had never heard before. “You must learn from the mistakes of others, because you will not live long enough to make every mistake yourself.” I have always heard a similar statement… “Any fool can learn from his own mistakes. It takes a wise man to learn from the mistakes of others.” Let’s look at their mistakes and see what they illustrate. . .


1. Seek God’s will BEFORE you make up your mind (vv. 4 – 5).

Notice how Jehoshaphat answered Ahab’s question BEFORE he sought the LORD’s will…

How many times have we done the same thing? How many times have we prayed, “Lord, this is what I am doing. Let it be your will.” … OR, “Lord, let your will be what I have just done.” … OR, “Lord, bless my decision, because I have already made up my mind.”


2. Seek God’s will in God’s Word.

Modern people are faced with many different views of where and how to seek God’s will: Church Traditions…Priests…Creeds…Feelings…Internal Work of H.S…Human Opinion…Human Authority (political, etc)…

Often these “modern day prophets” are in contradiction to one another…Just as the prophets of Israel were…

How can we discern between true prophets and false prophets? Simply put, God’s will is in God’s Word… Internal witness of Holy Spirit is important, but this cannot be the primary (much less the only) guidance we seek.

John Calvin in his Institutes taught what has become the Landmark teaching re: balance between Holy Spirit and Scripture.

Internal, subjective witness of Holy Spirit is ALWAYS consistent with external, objective witness of Scripture…In other words, the Holy Spirit will NEVER lead you in a direction different from what is found in Scripture.

However, the opposite of this is also true… Scripture is affirmed through the witness of Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart and life… When we read something in the Bible that applies to our circumstances in life, the Holy Spirit will nudge us and whisper, “That part is for you…This is God’s Word and God’s Will for your life.”

If you are not reading God’s Word, how will you know God’s will?


3. When seeking God’s will, we must be prepared for the truth.

Don’t seek God’s will unless you are willing to expose all of your sinfulness and imperfections and allow God to work on you.

Don’t seek God’s will unless you are willing to make some changes in your life.



4. Seeking God’s will is never enough. We must also follow God’s will.

Four frogs were sitting on a log. Three frogs decided to jump into the water. How many frogs are still sitting on the log? FOUR. There is a big difference between deciding and actually doing something.

Every year, people make New Year’s Resolutions to lose 10 pounds. They buy a diet book. They join a health club. They go to the grocery store and buy healthier food. Do they lose the weight? Of course not. Reading books, joining the health club and shopping for healthier foods does not cause us to lose weight.

It’s the difference between the mind and the body.