A curious response

"Thus says Ben-hadad: 'Your silver and gold are mine; your fairest wives and children are also mine.' The King of Israel answered, 'As you say, my Lord, O King, I am yours, and all that I have.'"

(1 Kings 20:2b-4)

King Ben-hadad gets 32 other kings behind him and with army at hand goes to attack Israel. He approaches the city and issues an ultimatum: give me all your money, your smoking hot wives, and your brilliant kids, or I'll destroy you. And what was King Ahab of Israel's response? "Okay, I'm yours."

(Wait. What?!?)

I was seriously taken aback by this. Shouldn't a king respond with a bit more confidence, fortitude, and resolve? Nope. (And you know what? He played it perfectly!)

It turns out that the king's initial response bought I'm 24 hours. Then he said, "I can give you the money, but not the wives or children." Meanwhile, Ben-hadad and the 32 kings have been drinking and celebrating their easy victory. When Ahab balked at his original terms, the gathering of kings decided they should probably do something about it. Meanwhile, God told Ahab how to defeat the attacking army... and so they did.

What deep spiritual insight does this tell me? 1) Don't count your chickens before they hatch (or at least don't celebrate with a keg before the battle is actually won! Their inebriation surely impacted their ability to fight, don't you think!?!?) 2) Don't get drawn into a "pissing war" when confronted. Don't get sucked in to feeling you have to "prove yourself" if you're not sufficiently prepared.

Time. Space. Room for the Holy Spirit to move and inspire. All of those items can help. So don't rush in to things! May we be open to hearing from God - especially when we're not initially 100% sure on how to respond before we move forward.