1 Kings 22:19

1 Kings 22:19 says, And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.  Micaiah told Ahab that he needed to hear the word of God.  This is what everyone must do at some point in life, whether they accept it or not.  Micaiah said he saw God sitting on His throne and the host of heaven sitting on His right and left side.  God will always be the center of heaven.  Of course, when we die, we need to be some of those at His sides or in front of Him, even if we are far back in the crowd.  Verse twenty adds, And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.  God asked who was going to go to Ahab and persuade him to go and fall at, or be killed, at Ramoth-Gilead.  This does not imply that God does not know certain things, but that He allows evil spirits to come into His presence now, though there is coming a day when they won't.  God had told Ahab to not go to war, and in order for him to be encouraged to do so it would take a deceiving spirit to convince him.  I don't believe that God will ever send deceiving spirits to us, but until Christ returns, they are still free to work in the world.  Verse twenty-one continues, And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.  We are told a spirit came forth who said he would go and persuade Ahab.  Again, I believe this was an evil spirit who had just been allowed to come into God's presence temporarily.  Verse twenty-two states, And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.  God asked the spirit how he would do this, and he said he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab's prophets, which means he wasn't a spirit of God.  It also means that he wasn't going to God's prophets but to the false prophets.  Those who follow God spiritually will never be called on to lie to people in order to get them to do what God has told them not to do, and God's prophets will never lie to people.  Verse twenty-three adds, Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.  Micaiah told Ahab the reason all these prophets were saying that he should go ahead with his plan was because God had put a lying spirit in their mouth, but once more, I don't believe God actually did this, but He allowed it to happen.  God is not going to do something that is against His expressed purpose, but He will allow it to happen.  Verse twenty-four continues, But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?  Zedekiah hit Micaiah in the face and asked him when God's spirit had left him and gone to Micaiah.  Matthew Henry says this also implies that Zedekiah had an exclusive hold on the Spirit of God and control of what He could do.  We need to beware of anyone who says that they alone know what God wants.  Verse twenty-five declares, And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.  Micaiah didn't hit Zedekiah nor really even argue with him, but simply said that when Zedekiah was hiding in the chamber after the battle that he would know the truth.  We don't need to lash out at people today nor ague with them when they will not accept the truth of the gospel, but we simply need to allow them to one day find out the truth for themselves.  We cannot compel people to believe God's truth but can only present it to them.  Verse twenty-six adds, And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;  Ahab told them to take Micaiah and return him to the governor of Amon and to Joash the king's son.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.  Ahab instructed them to tell Joash to put Micaiah in prison and feed him bread and water until Ahab returned in peace.  Ahab chose to believe the four hundred false prophets instead of believing the true prophet of God, and then he imprisoned the true prophet.  If we proclaim the truth of God today, many people are not going to believe us, and we might even be imprisoned for doing so.  Verse twenty-eight concludes, And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the  Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.  Micaiah didn't fight against Ahab, but simply said if he returned in peace that he would know that God had not spoken to him and asked the people to be a witness to this fact.  It may be that the only way some people will ever accept the truth of God is when His judgment comes, but in the meantime, we as followers of Christ must continue to speak His truth, even if it costs us in this lifetime.