\u201cBecause he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days,\u00a0but\u00a0I will bring the evil upon his house\u00a0in his son\u2019s days\u201d (1 Kings 21:29).<\/p>\n
Today, I am astonished again by God\u2019s grace to the repentant. King Ahab gets my vote as the most evil king in the whole history of Israel (Manasseh is a close second and has a similar story; see 2 Chronicles 33). He followed idols and caused the nation of Israel to do the same. He attempted to kill all God\u2019s prophets and anyone else who spoke against him. King Ahab even had his neighbor murdered because he had refused to sell him his vineyard.<\/p>\n
Time and again, God sent King Ahab signs that He alone is God. He sent a drought to demonstrate that He, not idols, controlled the weather (1 Kings 17). In a dramatic showdown on Mount Carmel, God demonstrated His power over the idols by raining fire from heaven (1 Kings 18). And God gave King Ahab two miraculous victories in battle (1 Kings 20).<\/p>\n
Still, Ahab did not honor Him as God, nor was he thankful. He continued to worship and serve the created rather than the Creator. In fact, the Scripture says, \u201cthere was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the\u00a0Lord\u201d (21:25).<\/p>\n
However, when the word of the Lord came to Ahab through Elijah, foretelling the calamity that would befall Ahab and his house because of his sins, the most astonishing thing happened: \u201cHe tore his clothes and put\u00a0on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about\u00a0despondently\u201d (v. 27).<\/p>\n
Faced with his sin and God\u2019s just judgment, King Ahab humbled himself before God, and God had mercy on him.<\/p>\n
I was touched by God\u2019s response to this king\u2019s repentance. Even though God knew Ahab would revert to his wicked ways after repenting, He still responded with mercy. Don\u2019t worry. King Ahab did not get off without punishment for all the evil he did. But God did delay His judgment \u2014 because he repented.<\/p>\n
Look how God\u2019s heart is moved by repentance. The evilest person in the world will find mercy \u2014 if they repent. I find that astonishing!<\/p>\n
I wanted to share God\u2019s astonishing grace, so I began to write a devotion. Halfway through I remembered that I had already written one on this topic. I looked back to find that I even quoted the same verse! Clearly, I am astonished by God\u2019s amazing grace every time I read this story.<\/p>\n
Whatever you have done, it cannot be as evil as what King Ahab did. So repent! There is no need for sackcloth and ashes. Just give your heart to God. You, too, will be astonished at the amazing grace God will shower upon you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cBecause he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days,\u00a0but\u00a0I will bring the evil upon his house\u00a0in his son\u2019s days\u201d (1 Kings 21:29). Today, I am astonished again by God\u2019s grace to the repentant. King Ahab gets my vote as the most evil king in the whole history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1591,"featured_media":30038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2494],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n