Ahab’s Defeat and Death
28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up against Ramoth-gilead. 29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle. 30 Now the king of Aram had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight with small or great, but with the king of Israel alone.” 31 So when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel,” and they turned aside to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him. 32 When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 33 A certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel [e]in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of the chariot, “Turn [f]around and take me out of the [g]fight, for I am severely wounded.” 34 The battle raged that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot in front of the Arameans until the evening; and at sunset he died.
It seems Ahab really had Jehoshaphat duped, or maybe he felt invincible since the doom had been on Ahab. Either way, Jehoshaphat risks his life for Ahab, and God does indeed save his life. But Ahab, for all his trickery in trying to avoid the prophesied fate, still gets mortally wounded by a stray arrow.
God knows what is coming in a few hours, tomorrow, and a thousand years from now. He’s living in all time all at once (because he created it), so nothing surprises him. We can be a bit fatalistic, and say, well if that’s the way it is, I’ll just go do my own thing…
Or we can choose to embrace the fact that God knew in advance everything (good or bad) that we would do, and he loves us anyway, and sent his own Son as a sacrifice for us regardless of what we would do with his love. He pours out his love abundantly on us all, so now it is up to us. Will we choose to follow the one who would chase us to the ends of the earth (and has already)? Don’t take his love for granted, it is bigger and more amazing than you could ever imagine, but you can only know and experience it when you choose Him.