Ear Tickling Preachers

Todays Reading – 1 Kings 22 – 2 Kings 1

In chapter 22 of 2 Kings we see Ahab, the king of Israel; and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah planning together a battle with Ramoth-gilead.  Jehoshaphat was a good man and a decent king, and he wanted to make sure that God was with them; so he asks Ahab to check with the prophets of God to find out whether God would bless them.  Ahab calls 400 of his prophets, which were apparently on his payroll, because they told Ahab exactly what he wanted to hear.  Paul warned us about these kind of preachers in 2 Timothy:

 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2 Timothy 2:3)

Jehoshaphat smelled a rat however and asked Ahab if there were any other prophets that they could ask.  Ahab reluctantly calls for Micaiah, a real man of God who told them the truth:  Ahab was going to die, and Israel was going to lose the battle.  Ahab decided to listen to himself rather than God and went off to fight the battle, and was killed in the battle.

As New Testament Christians, we should demand that the preachers and teachers in our churches will boldly tell us the truth.  We don’t need anybody tickling our ears; we need somebody that will tell us what God really said.  We ought to cheer the faithful preachers on as they deliver us the word of God, no matter how unpleasant it can be at times.