Going Down with the Ship

And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” 1 Kings 22:26-28

I can clearly remember a very dark place near the end of my drug using days, when I simply gave up all efforts at sobriety. Up until that point, I at least lied to myself, insisting I was going to quit someday. Then though, after breaking that promise for the thousandth time, I embraced sad, painful honesty – You know what? I’m not going to quit. I’m hopelessly addicted. I’m just going down with this ship. This is the beginning of the end.

It was a dark, terrible place to be, but I think King Ahab found himself in a similar place in today’s passage. In the story, King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat conspired to attack the Syrians, consulting Ahab’s 400 prophets, all of whom indicated that the Israelites would be victorious. When, however, the prophet Micaiah was questioned, he predicted Israel’s defeat and Ahab’s demise. Micaiah even described, in vivid detail, the recruitment of the 400 false prophets who would unwittingly mislead Ahab to his death. Micaiah could not have made it any clearer. If Ahab went to war, he was not coming home. Still, Ahab was committed and refused to change his plans. Even though he understood the consequences, Ahab was going down with his proverbial ship.

What’s the lesson – other than this is a terrible place to be? I think the lesson is that this is a place where we put ourselves. We may tell ourselves that God has arrayed himself against us. Ahab must have felt that way. Just a few verses earlier though, when Ahab humbled himself before God, God quickly forgave him (1 Kings 21:29). God, it seems, is always willing to forgive, no matter what we’ve done. We, however, put limits on God’s mercy. God can’t forgive me this time. We tell ourselves this because going down with the ship is easier than actual change. Genuine repentance is really hard work, and so, we tell ourselves it’s too late. In or stubbornness, we’d rather go down with the ship, telling ourselves that God was against us. This, however, is absurd. It is we who place ourselves in conflict with God, and it is we who can get ourselves back on God’s side. As long as we have breath, it’s not too late to return to God who will always forgive us . . . no matter what we’ve done.