1 Kings 22:10

1 Kings 22:10 says, And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.  Both the king of Israel and the king of Judah sat on their thrones before the people of Israel and the prophets joined them.  All those in positions of power were gathered together there.  We, as followers of Christ, if not physically should at least spiritually be united in doing God's work.  Verse eleven adds,  And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.  Zedekiah, a false prophet, made a set of horns and said that they represented the people of Israel pushing the Syrians out of the way.  We may not have visual representations of God bringing victory today, but He has already claimed the everlasting victory by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to bring forgiveness of sin for all time and His resurrection to defeat the power of death.  Still, we must be careful that those claiming to speak for God actually do.  Verse twelve adds, And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand.  All the false prophets agreed with Zedekiah, but that still didn't make them right.  The number of people claiming to speak united for God does not make them right today either.  If what is being said is not God's truth, the number of people saying it will never make it true.  Verse thirteen continues, And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.  The person sent to get Micaiah told him that all the prophets had prophesied good for the king, and asked him to do the same.  Of course a true prophet can never just decide what they are going to prophesy, and neither should they agree to do so if asked.  Verse fourteen states, And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.  At least Micaiah said he would only speak what God told him to speak.  This needs to be the same for Christians today.  Verse fifteen adds, So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.  Still, when he got to Ahab and was asked, he told him to go and prosper.  He didn't say this was what God had said though.  I believe that he was just acknowledging that Ahab really didn't want to hear what God had to say and was likely going to do what he wanted to do anyway.  Sometimes, it does no good to proclaim God's word, because people aren't going to listen anyway.  That does not relieve us of the responsibility of doing so though.  Verse sixteen continues, And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?  Ahab must have known that Micaiah was just telling him what he wanted to hear and asked him how many times had he told him to tell him nothing but what God said.  If people ask us to help them determine what God has to say today, we need to always speak God's truth, even if it isn't what they want to hear.  Verse seventeen declares, And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.  Micaiah then told Ahab what God really said.  Israel was going to be scattered and not have a shepherd or king.  Micaiah told Ahab that God to then have the people return home in peace in retreat, but not totally destroyed. This was not what Ahab wanted to hear.  Whether it is what they want to hear or not, all we can do is tell people what God says.  People are still wanting to have God tell them only what they want to hear, but preachers and teachers, or even individual Christians, cannot afford to do that.  Verse eighteen adds, And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?  Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he had said that Micaiah would only tell him what he didn't want to hear, because he didn't want to hear the truth of God.  People still too often only want to hear things that agree with what they want and do not want to hear God's truth.