When God Calls You to Say Hard Things
"While Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer incense, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel and proclaimed against the altar by the word of the Lord."
– 1 Kings 13:1-12, NRSV
When I read this story a few days ago, a bunch of different things stood out to me all at once, so I tried to capture them the best I could in my flurry of thought.
A man from Judah says hard things
There’s a story in 1 Kings about a man from Judah who receives a word from God to proclaim at an altar Jeroboam built at Bethel (13:1-10).
To be clear: this is one of those bad altars.
And I don’t know how familiar you are with prophetic words spoken by folks in the Old Testament, but they usually call people out on the things they’re doing wrong and warn them about what will happen if they continue on their destructive paths.
So in our story here, the man of God delivers the word, Jeroboam gets mad and injures himself, the man of God miraculously heals him, and then according to the directions God gave him, leaves.
3 lessons from the man of God
There are a few things I think we can learn from this story and apply to our own lives.
1. The “prophet” is just a normal guy.
He was never referred to as a prophet in the story. He was a man of God who felt a nudge from God and responded faithfully to that nudge, even when it meant saying hard things to powerful people.
2. He doesn’t allow another man’s reaction to what he says change the way he responds.
In verse 4, we’re told Jeroboam seethed with anger at what the man of God spoke. I like to imagine the man just stood there and stared at Jeroboam as he threw a temper tantrum.
But notice: he didn’t react to Jeroboam. His confidence was in God and what God called him to do (Proverbs 3:26).
3. He does what he is called to do - nothing more.
The man of God was called by God to speak a specific word and leave. Despite being invited by Jeroboam to enjoy a nice meal and receive a gift, the man repeated what he was called to do: “Don’t eat food, or drink water, or return the same way you came.”
What this means for us
Trying to remain faithful to God’s call in our lives can be challenging, and at times, it might even seem like we’re not qualified for the tasks set before us. But like the man from Judah, God uses who God uses.
Just because you’ve never volunteered at a church, led a Bible study, gone on a mission trip, or completed seminary doesn’t mean God is incapable of using you. In my experience, God likes to break our norms to cut through to the heart of the matter anyway.
And yes, there are all kinds of distractions and setbacks and roadblocks that stand in our way of accomplishing what’s set before us (including over-reactive people). But if, like the man of God, we remember the Lord is with us and will keep us, then we can move forward with confidence.
The key is to “keep the main thing the main thing.” We must remain obedient to the things God is calling us to do even when it makes more sense to go about doing it another way.
Matt Snyder is the Digital Media Manager and Consultant at First Baptist Church of Decatur. He is also a freelance copywriter and content creator at Copywriter Creative. You can learn more about his work and follow him on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @matthewlasnyder.