Daily Devotional for Tuesday, April 15

Ahab’s Second Conquest

“And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country,”  1 Kings 20:27.

I grew up in a preacher’s home, but before he surrendered to preach the gospel, my dad played high school football. Watching football together became a family pastime, and I eventually learned to love the game and adopted my favorite teams. However, when “my teams” were not playing, I always rooted for the underdog. Something about the David versus Goliath scenario appealed to me.

            This was certainly the case when the children of Israel went out against King Ben-hadad and the Syrian army. Israel looked like two small flocks of goats compared to the Syrians who covered the plain. Ben-hadad’s soldiers thought surely they would win this time. After all, Israel’s God was only God “of the hills” (verse 23). These superstitious heathens believed that each region had its own god for blessings and protection. They mistakenly believed that if they fought Israel in the valley they would be victorious. 

            The Syrians did not know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! “And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude unto thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord” (verse 28).

            Satan loves to attack God’s children in the valleys of life. Many times we may feel like we are a few helpless sheep against the world. But, when we are on the Lord’s side, we have the majority. God showed Ahab and the children of Israel that day that He is the Lord by delivering one hundred thousand enemy soldiers into Israel’s hands. 

THOUGHT

No matter what the odds, we cannot lose when God fights for us.

Karen Meigs