The danger of second-hand hearing from God...

As King Jeroboam continued to lead the northern kingdom of Israel into idolatry (see yesterday's post) God, on more than one occasion, sent a prophet to warn him about the error of his ways. In 1 Kings chapter 13, we read of a time when God even sent a man of God all the way from the southern kingdom of Judah to prophesy against the evil that Jeroboam was perpetuating at his new "places of worship" in Dan and Bethel.

There's no doubt that this man is a genuine prophet who knows how to hear from the Lord. He foretells the future reign of young King Josiah and the things that will happen at that time. When Jeroboam attempts to have him detained, the king's hand becomes paralysed and the prophet from Judah heals him. The sign that he foretold (that the pagan altar would crack open, spilling ashes on the ground) happens right there and then, proving the veracity of the prophet's message.  Yes, this man knew how to hear God's voice.

I often think of this man's story when I'm speaking to young people about learning to hear God's voice for ourselves, because it illustrates the importance of testing words that come from others. God does often speak to us through other people, but those words are usually a confirmation of things that He has already been speaking to us personally. It's vitally important that we know how to hear directly from God for our own lives, because He will hold us accountable for what we do with that.

In this story, the man of God from Judah had heard God telling him not to stay for anything to eat or drink in Bethel, but to come straight home again after prophesying to Jeroboam. So when the king invites him to stay for a meal, he declines, explaining that God told him not to linger for anything to eat or drink.

But when he is already on the way home, an older prophet, for reasons we're not told, rides after him and lies to him, telling the younger man that an angel told him to invite him back to his home for a meal. The Judah prophet trusts the older man and goes back with him for something to eat and drink. However, after deceiving him in this way, the older man then gives him a prophecy that actually is from the Lord: the prophet from Judah is going to pray a price for disobeying what God told him. Sure enough, on his way home again, the younger man is killed by a lion.

I remember feeling outraged, one of the first times that I studied this passage, back in the 1980s. The younger man acted in good faith and paid for it with his life, while the older man who deliberately lied to him apparently got off scot free! But God reminded me at the time that this passage simply doesn't tell us the end of the story for the Bethel prophet or how God may have dealt with him in the future. What it does warn us is that we will be held fully responsible for our own obedience or disobedience to the things things God has spoken to us, irrespective of what others may have said to us.

In yesterday's post, I wrote about "easy allegiance" - when we settle for a form of Christianity that is easier than the real thing. One of the areas where this can be a particular danger is when it comes to hearing God's instructions and guidance for our lives. Unless we had the privilege of learning to hear God's voice when we were children (4 year olds seem to have no trouble at all knowing what God is saying to them) it often requires patience and practice when we're a little older. We need to learn to be comfortable with waiting in silence and stilling our own thoughts and distractions so that we can really hear from God. Sometimes it seems easier to have someone else, a pastor or a leader, hear from God for us.

But hearing and obeying God is an essential part of being a Christian and, as today's story reminds us, it's vitally important that we learn how to hear from God first hand and not only second hand through others. He longs for us to listen to Him and joyfully, and carefully, obey.