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"All the days of the afflicted are evil..."

"All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." (Proverbs 15:15) The first time I encountered the above passage, I tried to reflect on many other alternate meanings there could be asides from what comes to mind at first glance. But there's no getting away from the obvious: your life is shaped by your perspective.  The interesting thing about affliction is that it is typically no respecter of persons. Young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick - it is an equal opportunity offender. It takes different forms: financial, spiritual, mental, physical, the list goes on. There are the severe, life-threatening types, and the garden-variety types that show up as daily or weekly inconveniences. But there is a flavor of affliction for every kind of person: many fall into the thinking trap that there's a level of wealth or security that guarantees an affliction-free existence. That simply doesn't happen: it's one of the co...
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Is there not a prophet of the LORD here?

The account of the kings of Judah and Israel - Jehoshaphat and Ahab - in 2 Chronicles 18 inspired this post. Ahab needed to go to war in Ramoth-gilead and wanted an ally in Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was willing to form an alliance, but asked that they consult and get directions from God before embarking on the war. 


Ahab gathers 400 prophets and they say the exact same thing: Go to war: God will give you victory over your enemies. But Jehoshaphat says “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD around here?”


This is intriguing and instructive. How many of us would hear 400 different people saying the exact same “Thus saith the LORD” and still have the spiritual discernment to say no, this is NOT yet the voice of the LORD? 


We live in a “vox populi, vox Dei” world. Folks actually believe the voice of the masses (people) is the voice of God. Opinions or narrative with 20,000 likes are considered more credible or reliable than those with 20 likes. But this biblical account in 2 Chronicles 18 reminds us that God is not always in the multitude. In fact, Jehoshaphat turned out right: a prophet of the LORD is summoned and predicted Ahab would not survive the war and that was exactly what happened. 


The lesson for us is thus: what are we doing as individuals to improve our level of spiritual discernment? How are we making sure we are not getting carried away by voices - even spiritual-sounding voices - but actually understanding the will of God for our lives? May God help us better discern Him, and walk accordingly. Amen. 

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