Humility

Today’s Passage – 1 Kings 20 – 21 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Luke 3 – 4; Proverbs 24; Psalms 116 – 120

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 40:31

Read the “0424 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.” – (1 Kings 21:27-29)

Ahab was probably the worst king in Israel’s history. He tolerated all kinds of immorality and idolatry in his kingdom and even promoted it. He married Jezebel, a woman whose name had become synonomous with wickedness. Together, Ahab and Jezebel were responsible for the slaughter of many of the prophets of the Lord in Israel. These were bad people. Ahab was a bad man and an even worse king. Consider what today’s reading says about them:

“25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.” (1 Kings 21:25-26)

Notice, however, in the last part of chapter 21, Ahab humbled himself before the Lord. Why did Ahab humble himself? Because he had just been told by the prophet Elijah that God was going to kill him, his wife, Jezebel, and even his posterity because of the evil he and Jezebel had done in having Naboth put to death, just so they could steal his vineyard away from him. When confronted by the prophet and after the judgment was pronounced, Ahab was remorseful and humbled himself before God. He may have only been remorseful because he got caught and because of the sentence of judgment that was pronounced against him, but he did recognize the reality of God’s sovereignty over him and he humbled himself.

Now don’t misunderstand, this was not a complete turnaround. He didn’t surrender to go to the mission field or anything like that, but he did humble himself before the Lord, and as a result, God spared him some of the judgment that he had planned for him. Apparently, a little humility went a long way for Ahab.

I don’t think there are too many people reading this that are as guilty of as much wickedness as King Ahab, but it would do us well to follow his example in just this one instance. Let’s kill some of the pride in our lives and humble ourselves before the Lord. Let’s surrender to Him and submit ourselves to His will for our lives. Let’s allow him to correct us when necessary. It may just be that a little humility before the Lord will go a long way in our lives as well.

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5)

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:10)

I would like to give one additional thought regarding Ahab’s humbling himself before God and how it may relate to us. God confronted Ahab about his sin through the prophet Elijah. Ahab already knew that what Jezebel had done was wrong and that he had gone along with it just so that he could get his precious vineyard that he was lusting after. The wrongfulness of his actions did not convict him, but God’s confronting him and His pronouncement of judgment did. Sometimes, it is only the judgment that follows a sinful action that will convince people of their need to turn around. 

For believers today, God uses a similar process. He confronts us regarding our sin through the principles found in His word and through the presence of the indwelling Spirit of God. God confronts us and shows us that our actions and even our thoughts are against His will, which hopefully will cause us to repent. However, if that is not sufficient to get us to change, God will also allow negative consequences (or the threat of them) to come into our lives to bring us to the place of repentance.

[Edited and updated on 4/24/25]