Don't Cave in To The Threats Of The Enemy -- Your God Is Able

Now Ben-Hadad King of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.' "
The king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have is yours."
The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.' "
The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land . . .  
The elders and the people all answered, "Don't listen to him or agree to his demands."
. . . Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful."
The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.' "
Ben-Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and so he ordered his men, "Prepare to attack." So they prepared to attack the city.  1 Kings 20:1-12
"I sent to demand your gold and silver, your wives and children. But about this time tomorrow, I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away."

The demands of Ben-Hadad were common practice in those days. Kings would attack other nations and carry off everything they could lay hands on. Overnight, royals could be captured and sent into slavery. That is what the King of Israel, Ahab, faced.

Ahab agreed to have the best of his wives and children, as well as his gold and silver to be taken by the invading king, Ben-Hadad. He caved in with no resistance whatsoever. This emboldened Ben-Hadad to make even more demands. After consulting with the elders, however, Ahab mustered courage to reject the demands of Ben-Hadad. This caused Ben-Hadad to threaten Ahab with total annihilation. But his boasting was rather premature. It was not to be!

There are some noteworthy lessons here:
First, our Enemy (Satan) always starts by making "small" demands of us. If we give in, he will come back with bigger demands that can completely wipe us out because we caved in to his earlier demands. No matter how difficult your situation might be, never give in to the suggestions of the enemy simply because you want to survive. If you do, he will come back to completely deplete you.



Second: When you find yourself in a jam, seek godly counsel from trusted people around you.
Never go it alone. Godly counsel will enable you to see other possibilities and strengthen you to withstand the threats and attacks of the adversary.

Finally, the reply of Ahab to Ben-Hadad is rather insightful: "One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off." In other words, don't boast about what you will accomplish in battle before you even set out for the battle.

Two applications: First, never be boastful about tomorrow. Always be humble because you can never guarantee a positive outcome for tomorrow. Everything is by the grace of God.

Second: Our mortal enemy, Satan is very boastful when he comes against us with his threats. He would want us to believe that he has already wiped us out so we have no future to look forward to. But remind Satan that his boast has no basis because Jesus has already defeated him. His boasting is only to comfort his pitiful soul! Satan cannot overcome our Defender!

You are a child of the King of Kings! You are a child of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Let this truth uphold you. Don't cave in to the threats of the enemy; Your God is able!
Prayer: Father, I thank you that I am more than a conqueror through Jesus my Lord. Amen.