Hills or Valleys? God's Got This

I just read 1 Kings 20, where Ahab, King of Israel, comes up against Ben-hadad, King of Syria, in a couple of epic battles.   Y’all—there are SO many directions I could take this morning. 

For example—Ahab was a hot mess.  Israel was a hot mess.  Once the Kingdom was divided into Israel and Judah after Solomon’s death, the Northern Kingdom of Israel NEVER had a righteous king to lead them.  NEVER.  From Rehoboam’s harsh and disastrous reign (930 BC), until the deportation to Assyria (722 BC), they were consistently stupid, rebellious punks.  Approximately 208 years of idiocy.  And that’s being gentle and diplomatic.

Can you believe that God still tried to draw them?  To get their attention?  To show them Himself?  Good thing I’m not God—I’d have resorted to “talk to the hand” far, far earlier.  But many, many times, God would save their behinds, and He’d tell them WHY—“So you will KNOW I am the LORD.”  Talk about longsuffering!  But even though Ahab was wicked to the core, the prophets STILL delivered messages from the Lord to him—because God reaches for us far, far longer than we deserve.

Another thought I had:  Sometimes, God uses people who aren’t completely RIGHT to demonstrate His power, to work a victory, and to elevate and magnify His Name.  Ben-hadad had been talking smack about God long enough, and God decided He’d just as soon use Ahab as anyone else to teach those pagan smart-alecks a lesson.  Proving His superiority to Ahab in order to provoke Israel’s repentance was an added bonus.

What does this mean?  Just ‘cause God came through for you doesn’t mean you’re completely in the right.  You’d better examine yourself—because His demonstration isn’t always a stamp of approval.  Sometimes, it’s a signal from HIM to YOU of His potential and power.  You might’ve been the beneficiary of His work, but it’s always more about HIM, than it is about YOU.  Ahab never seemed to learn this lesson.  A big victory should be followed more by us responding in humility and gratitude, than in self-satisfied strutting.  He’s supposed to get the glory.  Always.

But here’s the REAL thing that hit me today when I read this account.  Check out this verse:

1 Kings 20:28 NKJV

²⁸ Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”

That’s what provoked God.  Did you catch that?  Because Syria was mocking God, and saying, “Oh, sure, in the hills, He’s all that…” God decided it was time to teach them a lesson and set the record straight.  Syria knew He was God on the mountain top.  They knew He’d come through for His people in the good times, when everything was going well.  But they messed up when they disrespected His ability and His willingness to be with Israel even in the valleys.  They questioned His loyalty to His people.  They questioned the purity of His character and His love.  They poked fun at His power, and they laughed at His potential.

Oh, did it cost them!

1 Kings 20:229-30 NKJV

²⁹ And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND foot soldiers of the Syrians in ONE DAY. ³⁰ But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; THEN A WALL FELL ON TWENTY-SEVEN THOUSAND of the men who were left.

I’m sorry, Ben-hadad…you were saying?

Seems to me the hills AND the valleys are no problem for the God of Israel.  What a difference a day makes!  Take a victory lap, Jesus!  And did you notice that some of the battle was hand-to-hand—but then God took out the rest of the enemies without anyone else’s help?  Really—a WALL falls on 27,000 fleeing soldiers in a totally different place from the battle?  Their supposed place of refuge was no hiding place from the King of kings. 

Here’s my practical application take-away, in case you’ve missed it: wherever you are, whatever you’re facing—whether you’re on the mountaintop, or you’re so deep in the valley you have to look up to see the surface—GOD has it totally in hand.  When someone is attacking your faith, or especially talking smack against the Lord and His ability and intentions, watch OUT.  You can’t ‘dis’ the King of Glory and remain unscathed.  Judgment’s coming.  He will be exalted, no doubt about it!

I’m so humbled to know the King—He holds both my hills and my valleys in the palm of His hand.  There’s no friend like Jesus!