Humble Yourself

Today’s Passage – 1 Kings 20 – 21

Second Milers also read – Luke 3 – 4; Psalms 116 – 118, Psalm 119; Proverbs 24

Scripture Memory passage for April – 1 Corinthians 13

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121

“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 has 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.

Notice, however, in the last part of chapter 21.  Ahab humbled himself before the Lord.  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 wicked as old 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.