“And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.’” – 2 Chronicles 18:7
Well, at least we aren’t the first people to try and avoid listening to those who would correct our course and put us on a godly path! There’s a natural tendency to seek only advice that reinforces what we’ve already decided to do with our lives. In fact, one of the prevalent lies of modern American culture is that anyone who disagrees with our choice hates us!
However, God doesn’t exist just to put a stamp of “YES” on whatever our personal plans and preferences might be. He calls us to radically changed lives of faith and obedience that are seldom our first choice. He calls us to the greatness of becoming more and more like Jesus, which isn’t natural for us at all! Far from hating us, the person who tries to guide us onto God’s path loves us far more than all the yes-people surrounding us!
Many today seek to ignore, avoid, or explain away God’s hard teachings about how we are to live. In our comfortable, prosperous, and radically independent culture, we want to do everything our way and seek a god who will simply smile and nod. That isn’t the Living God of the Universe!
Ask yourself, whenever you bump up against God’s teaching and word with your own desires and passions: Will you serve and follow the God who created you in His image? Or will you instead create a parody of God in your image? That was evil King Ahab’s mistake, one he would soon pay for with his life!