by Emmett Smith

"And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone." So spoke the disguised prophet of God to Ahab (1 Kings 20:40) after Ben-Hadad had been spared. God had allowed Ahab's tiny army to defeat Ben-Hadad and his fellow Syrians to prove His superiority over their idols. And Ahab treated with the Syrians and let them go! What was Ahab thinking? Here was a God-given opportunity to destroy the Syrian enemy, and Ahab made a deal with them. And not a very good one at that.

So God's prophet started toward Ahab by asking a neighbor "in the word of the Lord" to "smite" him, thus making him appear wounded in battle. When the neighbor refused what the text called "the voice of the Lord" he was killed by a lion, and another man wounded the prophet as he requested. So the prophet waited by the roadside, disguised as a wounded, dispirited combatant, until Ahab came by.

And what he told Ahab was, essentially, "I was entrusted with a prisoner of war, but I became "busy here and there" and let him escape. On pain of death, he had been charged with a prisoner, but had placed other priorities first. Ahab's judgement was simple and direct - you yourself have decided your fate.

Then the prophet revealed himself to Ahab and told him that God's judgement was on him for doing essentially the same thing with Ben-Hadad. And Ahab went home in a different mood than he had been in, "heavy and displeased". I suppose Ahab was "busy here and there" trying to look sophisticated to the Syrian enemy, rather than being responsible and eliminating a serious threat to Israel.

How often do we treat with the enemy? How often are we "busy here and there", too busy, too distracted, to properly place our priorities? In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talked about those who hear the word, (Mark 4:19 WEY) "but worldly cares and the deceitfulness of wealth and the excessive pursuit of other objects come in and stifle the Message, and it becomes unfruitful".

What's treasure to you? What are your priorities? How "busy" are you? Think about it.