It's God's Story

1 Kings 20:28 The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD.’”

It appears that sometimes God does things because He wants to correct what people think of Him (show who He really is)... not necessarily who the key players are or what they have done... He gives Ahab the victory, not because of who Ahab is (he is married to Jezebel who had set up worship of other gods in Israel and had "all" the prophets of God slaughtered... except for the two 50s hidden in caves and Elijah hiding in the ravine and with that widow....) but because of who God is... and what people believed about Him.

God is telling His story and He moves accordingly... it isn't about us... it's far greater than us and our understanding.

Earlier in 1 Kings 16:15 it says "In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days." Why so short a reign?

If you read the surrounding story... God had decided to carry out judgement on the house of Baasha. He apparently chose Zimri to enact that... Here is some of the backstory: "12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu—." He appeared to be doing what God wanted... but he ended up setting fire to the palace with himself still in it.

So he died and the passage tells us it is because of the sins that he had committed... God is using sinful people to do what He needs for the story to move forward.

I have trouble getting my simple mind around the complexity of these stories... I've lived with far simpler thinking "do what's right and God blesses" but these stories challenge my limited perspective... there is a greater backstory... I wonder how often the "key players" are unaware... like Job when Satan approaches God... the whole conversation that affects his life is "offstage" and the key player isn't in on it... At least I think of Job as the key player... and perhaps it's my limited understanding that is the problem... how often does God move to tell His story and I get in the way? How often do I hinder the story by not submitting to what I perceive as "unjust" treatment... I deserve better or "they are in the wrong"... instead of listening for the Spirit and remaining vulnerable.

How do I love in the midst of the story when it isn't about me or what I want?