1 Kings 22

This has to be another one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. Who has ever heard of the prophet Micaiah? But why isn’t he upheld more often as an Old Testament Bible hero? Micaiah: the prophet with a hot mouth. I love him. And one of the things I love most about him is that he wasn’t just willing to go with the crowd. He was determined to do what he believed was right—even if it went against the grain.

I guess the reason I admire that so much is because, especially in the Christian church, unity is upheld as an important virtue. In fact, I have encountered pressure to conform in my fair share of situations. Sometimes, I have agreed that unity was important and have acquiesced to what somebody else wanted. Other times, however, I have been like Micaiah and gone against "the church crowd," believing that there was something more important at stake.

For that reason, it was interesting to discover that it was actually the agreement of the false prophets in this chapter that threw up a red flag to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: "[Ahab] brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, 'Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?' 'Go,' they answered, 'for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.' But Jehoshaphat asked, 'Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?'" (vs 6-7)

In other words, Jehoshaphat was wondering, Why are all these guys saying exactly the same thing? Shouldn’t we find a prophet of the Lord to consult? Usually, to our way of thinking, such widespread agreement over an issue would signal the Spirit’s leading. But not in this case. (And thus, it may behoove us to think a little differently about agreement and unity in the future.)

God isn’t always in favor of agreement. This was definitely confirmed by Micaiah’s arrival on-scene. In fact, God’s true message was in total contradiction to the view espoused by "the crowd!" So, where does that leave us in regards to unity? It better leave us more concerned about hearing God’s opinion on something than we are concerned about rocking the boat. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against unity. But I am against it when it comes at the expense of hearing and following God’s voice.

Agreement is not evidence of the truth. On the contrary, it may (as in this case) simply be evidence that men are ignorant of or don’t care about the truth. May we have the courage to realize that God isn’t always in favor of agreement and be solely committed to seeking out His guidance on every issue we encounter within the church!