Be Watchful
Last week, we read about a nameless man of God in 1 Kings 13. I call him moG. He was given a task by God and he obeyed God. When we left him, he was leaving Bethel on his way home. Perhaps he was skipping or at least had a bounce in his step. He had confronted the king of Israel, given an important prophecy, and destroyed the idolatrous altar. He had witnessed a miracle. He was offered a reward, but he refused the invitation to stick around. He had obeyed God precisely. I see him as being content with his day’s work and hopeful for the immediate future of Israel. Things were about to get very bad, though.
In Bethel, there lived an old prophet. This old man was clearly complacent to the sin that was all around him. To live surrounded by the evil idolatry and do nothing is certainly not what we would expect from someone chosen by God. It is interesting to note that this old prophet remains nameless as well. I will call him Op.
Op heard about the nameless moG and what he did. Op chases after him. When he finds him, he asks him to come eat with him. moG replies as he did before – I will not disobey God (God had told him not to eat bread or drink water on his mission to Bethel – and he was to go home a different route than the way he came). Op says to him in verse 18: “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The verse continues: But he lied to him.
It is unclear why Op lies to moG. Perhaps he was jealous of the attention this man from Judah was getting in Israel. Perhaps he was angry for the destruction of the altar. We can only know that he lied.
moG did not realize the lie and he follows Op back to his house and eats and drinks. moG disobeyed God. At the table, Op actually hears from God and tells moG that because he had disobeyed God, moG would die.
moG was back on his way home again and clearly the aforementioned spring in his step was gone. He may have been wondering why he had been tricked. He may have been wondering why he believed Op when he was used to hearing from God directly. The Bible tells us in 1 Kings 13:24 – And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.
moG was killed by a lion! We read this story and questions start to arise. Why did God kill the relatively innocent moG and not the Op? moG was tricked! It is not fair!
I said last week, “Understand that as important as it was for moG to obey God, it is equally important that you obey God.” I stand by that statement, but I will add that we all carry a different amount of influence. The Op led a non-eventful life, as far as we can tell. He was lazy and ineffective in causing change around him. His death would have been largely irrelevant to Jeroboam and the sinful Israelites.
moG, on the other hand, was iconic. He stood up to the king. The whole nation would have known about these events. For moG to condemn the disobedience of an entire nation, state his clear instructions from God, then disobey God and remain unscathed would have been a double standard we will not see from God. Imagine hearing a pastor preach a sermon on faithfulness and their application is that we should never steal anything from our workplace. When you leave the building, you notice the pastor stuffing his pockets with money from the offering and pens from the desk. Suddenly his application has been so watered down that you will not think twice about stealing a pen from work that week.
God could not allow moG to proceed in his disobedience. God chose to make an example of him to his audience. “Do you see what happens when you disobey Me? I am serious, Israel… STOP disobeying Me!†Unfortunately, Jeroboam failed to change his ways, even after all of this. 1 Kings 13:33 – After this thing, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way….
What can we take away from moG’s story? First, we must understand the importance of our consistent obedience. Consistency is something we have come to value in our culture simply because it is so rare. Hypocrisy is a very common (and very appropriate) description of Christians today. If we are to make our lives exemplary to those around us, we must have consistency.
Second, we can take away the very clear reality that not everyone around us who claims to be “of God†actually is. Perhaps Peter had moG’s story in mind when he wrote 2 Peter 5:8 – Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Paul gives us similar warnings about false teaching (1 Timothy 1:3-4; 6:2-5; 2 Timothy 4:1-5) as does John (1 John 2:18; 4:1-6).
We must be aware and on our toes, especially in these times when our world is so full of alternative teachings. I would love to say that everything you ever hear from me will be right on… but I cannot. It is up to each and every one of us to determine what is truth. (If you ever disagree with me or think that something I have said is untruthful, please dialogue with me about it – I love criticism!) Be watchful, my friends. Be consistently obedient to God.
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