The Perception of God, Part 2

Scripture: 1 Kings 21:17-26

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.  “You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood, even yours.”’”  Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.  “Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin.  “Of Jezebel also has the Lord spoken, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’  “The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven will eat.”  Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.  He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel.

Insights:  Today we continue to look at the perception of God.  I am going to give you the fourth one first because it is a little shorter and it is very similar to the second one that dealt with motives.  The fourth perception is God sees internally.  Notice the last couple of verses tell us there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil.  Ahab’s internal thoughts were always on evil.  The third perception of God is the future.  He explicitly tells Elijah how Ahab and Jezebel are going to die as well as the male children of that line.  This history obviously displays God’s knowledge of horrific events, but I shared with FBCBG that God also knows the good things that are to come as well.  I took this as an opportunity to invite the church to attend our upcoming Vision Workshop on November 15 from 3-7 pm.  Let me encourage you to attend and see the direction the Strategic Planning Team senses the Lord is guiding us to here at FBCBG.

Questions:

1.  Are you grateful God does see the future?

2.  Do you understand God sees internally to our thoughts?

Prayer: Father, You hold my future in Your hands.  Guide me to walk obediently by Your side.  Amen.