Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

Another beautiful clear summer-like morning. I’m going to have Thano join me this morning for 3 more hours of tree work…before he has to go to work at Safeway at 1pm. We did over 4 hours yesterday…up till dark.

Blessings on your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

We have a problem here. The problem is not with having “faith in the LORD your God,” but with having “faith in his prophets.” Why is that a problem? Because it is not easy to tell who “his prophets” are—who among all who claim to speak God’s TRUTH are genuinely speaking God’s TRUTH.

In the case where King Jehoshaphat speaks the words of the FOCUS VERSE above, just prior to his military entering a battle against an imposing army, the matter seems rather straight forward. The prophet who steps forth to declare, “This is what the LORD says to you” (20:15) was apparently clearly recognized as a genuine prophet who genuinely spoke God’s TRUTH—Jehaziel. He announced total victory. He declared that the LORD would be so engaged in this conflict that “You will not have to fight this battle” (20:17). And that is exactly how it played out. The LORD intervened by inflicting the enemy army with such disorientation that they became confused as to who was who, they fought against themselves, and won!—they wiped themselves out! (Now there’s an idea to ponder.)

In an earlier case within this reading, the determination of which TRUTH CLAIM was a true TRUTH was not so easy. After Jehoshaphat King of Judah had “allied himself with Ahab by marriage” (18:1—a topic for another discussion), he now faced some pressure to lend military support for his ally. When Ahab presented his proposal of a team effort against the Arameans, Jehoshaphat insisted that they inquire of the LORD before making a decision. Ahab called together 400 politically correct prophets who all claimed to speak God’s TRUTH—assuring the kings of total victory. Since Jehoshaphat operated on a different personal channel setting (a HEART AFTER GOD) than Ahab, he was not at peace—he sensed that this unanimous TRUTH CLAIM was not TRUE. That’s when he requested a second opinion from a more credible prophet. Ahab reluctantly presented Micaiah who genuinely spoke God’s TRUTH. But notice the ratio—400 to 1!

Notice too how Micaiah presents his credentials when summoned by the messenger of Ahab and encouraged to agree with the 400 phoney prophets—“As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what MY God says” (18:13). I’ve highlighted the word “MY” since I believe it is of such critical significance. Just because someone uses or invokes the names of “God” or “Jesus Christ” does not guarantee that their “God” or “Jesus Christ” is the same one as yours, or the right one—the TRUE “God” or TRUE “Jesus Christ. I judge that the best prevention against deception and false TRUTH CLAIMS in this critical regard is to be in possession of a HEART AFTER GOD—a heart that continually seeks the TRUE One of Biblical description. All others are fraudulent.