He Exalts The Humble

Last week I finished up the book of 1 Kings in my devotional reading. By the end of the book I was getting a little overwhelmed with how the kings after David and Solomon seamed to progressively worsen. Near the end of the book, I read the story of a terribly wicked king named Ahab, and to my surprise, I caught another glimpse of who God is. Let me share what I discovered.

The Big Picture

The Old Testament story continues to unfold in my reading. The Israelites, after finally making it to the promise land, have rejected God as their king and asked Him for to appoint a human king over them. Though God was displeased with this desire, he granted their request to teach them a lesson and discipline them. He gave them Saul. After Saul David was given the throne of Israel, and after David, Solomon. Now when Solomon’s rule as king came to and end, the northern kingdom of Israel separated from the southern kingdom of Israel. The rest of the book of Kings tells the stories of the different kings of Judah and the different kings of Israel.

Because of Solomon’s disobedience and the idolatry he committed with his wives’ gods, God tore the kingdom of Israel from Solomon’s hands, leaving Solomon’s descendants only one tribe to reign over – Judah. God gave the rest of Israel to the kingship of Jeroboam. Almost immediately after Jeroboam becomes king of Israel, he sets up two golden calves for the people to worship (1 Ki. 12 25-33)!

When I read this I was appalled! God gives this guy the kingdom of Israel to rule and the first thing he does is set up idols! Not only this, but he sets them up to prevent the Israelites from going to Jerusalem to worship the Lord in the temple of Solomon (v. 27-30). What a wicked man. I can just imagine how furious God must have been, especially when their ancestors did the very same thing at Sinai.

Jeroboam didn’t stop there though. He built shrines on high places and appointed priests and he instituted festivals of worshipping the golden calves (v. 31-33). Listen to what God had to say about him: “You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods…you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back (14:9). This was Jeroboam king of Israel. It’s amazing when you look at all the kings after him on the throne of Israel because each one of them is either said to follow the ways of David or of Jeroboam, doing right in the eyes of the Lord or doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.

The Small Picture

To your surprise, Jeroboam is not the one I want to focus on. Later on in the book of Kings a man named Ahab inherits the throne of Israel. Jeroboam was a wicked king, but Ahab was ten times as wicked! Listen to what the summary of his reign says in Kings:

“Ahab…did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam…but he also married Jezebel…and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him (1 Ki. 16:30-33).”

Few lived up to king Ahab’s legacy of wickedness. As I was reading his story I was so taken aback by how it ended:

Elijah, the prophet, comes to Ahab and tells him that God is furious with him and his sin (21:20-22). The writer of Kings records another side note:

“There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites…” (21:25-26).”

And now watch this!:

“When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly” (21:27).

Now let’s pause for minute. If I was God and Ahab did this I would have said to him, “Too late buddy” and struck him down for his wickedness. But as we read on, I cam to see that God was a little different than I first thought. Right after God speaks to Elijah about Ahab:

“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son” (20:28).

Incredible! Unbelievable! When I read this, I sat there in my bed paralyzed with awe. Right at the end of his life Ahab humbled himself before the Lord and God extended grace and mercy to him. Remember this was the wickedest king who had ever ruled up to that point! Yet God gave him favor that he didn’t deserve.

It’s amazing to consider what this reveals about God. It shows me that he has a tremendously high value on humility. It shows me that he does indeed exalt those who are humble. If wicked Ahab’s humility can illicit such an incredible response of grace from God, how much more should we, having been justified in Christ, pursue a humble heart before the Lord in our daily walk? Our God’s beauty is beyond words. His majesty is overwhelming.

I am enjoying getting to know this God more and more everyday. May we continue to strive to know him better everyday.