Chapter-a-Day 1 Kings 22

The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "As a matter of fact, there is still one such man. But I hate him. He never preaches anything good to me, only doom, doom, doom—Micaiah son of Imlah." 1 Kings 22:8a (MSG)

As a consultant, I often have the opportunity to observe the culture of a company as an outsider. It is always fascinating to me how middle managers and upper management relate to the President or CEO of a company. I often watch people wrangle with how they will approach the top dog. They sweat over what they should say and how they should say it. Many live in terror of the meeting in which they must address their company's executive. They are afraid of consequences if they offend the boss, so they attempt to diving exactly what he or she wants to hear.

As I read about the 400 prophets blindly telling the King of Israel exactly what he wanted to hear, I thought about the hoardes of corporate "yes men" I've observed through the years covering their collective asses and lining up to say exactly what their boss wants them to say.

It gives me an even greater love and appreciation for Micaiah, who is willing to be the lone voice of truth in a culture that panders to the whims of their leader. He is so sold out to God's truth that he is willing to face painful consequences rather than fall in line with the other lemmings.

God, grant me the courage and commitment of Micaiah.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Ric e Ette

Comments

[kr]

4 Just then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came up and punched Micaiah in the nose, saying, "Since when did the Spirit of God leave me and take up with you?"

This made me laugh this morning. Can you imagine a couple of prophets coming to blows over who has the Spirit and who doesn't? Funny stuff.