Dr Paul Allen

The kind of man you hate reveals what kind of man you are. “But I hate him,” Ahab declared of Micaiah, God’s prophet. Jehoshaphat, the righteous king of Judah, sat with Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, to deliberate one question: Should they go to war together against Syria? Peace had lasted three years with the pagan nation, but Ahab desired the strategic city of Ramoth-Gilead for Israel. He questioned aloud to Jehoshaphat, “Do you know that Ramoth-Gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” (1 Kings 22:3). Jehoshaphat consents to fight with Ahab but desires to hear first from the God of Israel. Ahab calls his four hundred prophets, who, with one voice, give their hearty Amen! “Go up,” they say, “for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king” (1 Kings 22:6). The kind of men from whom you solicit counsel tells us what kind of man you are. These men were no messengers of Yahweh, and King Jehoshaphat knew so. Diplomatically, he

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” ( Ephesians 5:21 ) Normally in today’s world we are told to strive for the top. Desire to be “Number 1” overshadows the biblical injunction of submission. But when we are truly in a right relationship with God, we will be submitting to one another. Christ taught that servanthood was of much greater value in the eyes of God than mastery. We all know too many examples of churches that have been split by conflicts arising from selfishness among the believers or an unwillingness to serve. “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” ( James 4:1 ). A Spirit-filled Christian ( Ephesians 5:18 ) desires to submit and serve rather than to assert and rule. The same thought is reflected throughout Scripture: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” ( 1 Peter 5:5 ). “Obey t