#46. Walk Humbly With Your God
Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight.
And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went down with him to the king. Then he said to him, Thus says the LORD: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.
So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. Because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
II Kings 1:13-18 NKJV
Some might call the recent portions of Kings depressing for the constant sin on display. Certainly these chapters present many examples for us to learn from. See how these kings, prophets, and captains rebelled? Do not follow in their footsteps. But something else happens when reading lengthy portions of Scripture dealing with sin. When a humble man appears on the scene as the third captain in verse 13 and 14, it is like an ice cold lemonade from Chick-fil-A on a sweltering hot day after many hours of outdoor physical labor.
The third captain stands apart from his fellow captains who were reduced to ash along with their commands. He was a servant of King Ahaziah and obeyed him as far as he was able to obey the Lord. But this third captain would not speak sinfully to Elijah. Instead he came humbly before him, falling on his knees, and pleaded with Elijah as a man of God to spare his life and the life of his soldiers.
The Lord did not forget the cry of the humble captain* but delivered him and his soldiers from the fire from heaven that consumed the previous 102 men. The angel of the Lord advised Elijah to go with the soldiers, they went, and Elijah repeated his prophecy directly to Ahaziah. Because Ahaziah inquired of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, and we might add, because he never repented of this wickedness, Ahaziah would never rise from his bed again but would die. And he did.
How easy is it to be puffed up with pride and arrogance? We are warned that pride goes before destruction (Prov. 16:18) and that a man’s pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit (Prov. 29:23).
The Lord has called us to a life of humility, for this was the life of Christ on earth. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).
Through the work of the Lord in humbling this captain’s heart, he retained honor in the eyes of generations to come. Will you be a man or woman of humility, even submitting yourself to the righteous law of God? If we are hasty, may we be hasty in obedience to the Lord. If we are slow, may we be slow to accuse. If we are given to boasting, may we boast only in the cross of Christ who is our all in all. If we walk, may we walk humbly before the Lord today.
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*Psalm 9:2b: “He does not forget the cry of the humble.” Psalm 10:17: “LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear…”
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