Zebra Ministries

Good morning Zebras,

God showed me a couple of “new” stories in the Bible.   Of course, they aren’t new-but they certainly hit home in a new way.  I’ll share one today and one tomorrow. The first one is in 1 Kings 13.

God sent a prophet to cry out against king Jeroboam, which he did. When Jeroboam tried to seize him, God made the king’s hand shrivel up.  The king asked the prophet to intercede on his behalf, which he did, and the king’s hand was restored.  The king then invited the prophet home, but the prophet refused.

1 Kings 13:7–10 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.” But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ ” So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

On his way home, he was met by another prophet who after hearing what had happened came out to meet him.  He too invited the prophet to come for dinner and once again the prophet refused until the man said this:

1 Kings 13:18–19 The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ”(But he was lying to him.) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.

During the meal, the word of God came to the liar:

1 Kings 13:21–22 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

In my book, it is the liar who should have gotten punished, but it wasn’t, it was the prophet who disobeyed God.  On the way home, he was attacked by a lion.  The lion killed him, but did not eat him nor maul the donkey he had been riding.  The lion was found just sitting by the body.  Because the circumstances of his death were so unusual it served to reinforce the message he had been sent to give: those who disobey the Lord will die.

So many lessons!  

The prophet resisted the temptation to eat when it came from someone he knew was “evil” but gave in when it came from another “man of God.” If you have been given instructions from God, you are the one He is going to hold responsible.  There is no shifting blame to someone else, you need to obey, it didn’t work with Adam it won’t work for you. 

The prophet’s death served to reinforce his message. We act like God will always protect us when we are doing His work and He will but that does not necessarily mean physical protection here on Earth. Perhaps God will be more honored by our death. Jesus died a horrible death as did many of the disciples and their deaths served to spread the Gospel. The world is afraid of dying, Christians shouldn’t be because as Paul says: “for me to die is gain.” We need to be willing to “die” for the cause of Christ. 

John 12:24–25 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

And finally, never play the “God card” to get your way.  Do not say “God told me” (or in this case one of His messengers) unless He did.   

Love,

Jill