How do you answer honestly to a king?
1 Kings 22:8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil,.
1 Kings 22:13-14, 23 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, 'Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable. To the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.' But Micaiah said, 'As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.'..Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets the Lord has declared disaster for you.
Micaiah stood between a rock and a hard place. King Ahab was evil, pursuing wicked desires. Jezebel, the king's wife, was worse. Micaiah, Prophet of God, walked with the Lord and listened to the Lord's voice. His duty was to report what the Lord said to the king or whoever inquired of him. Micaiah could have easily been executed for reporting the word of the Lord.
In this nation, honesty made you hated. When Micaiah was faced with a question from the king, whether or not the king should go to war, he only had one thing to say. He informed Ahab the other prophets were deceived by a lying spirit in order to lead the king to defeat. This would make the Ahab hate him even worse.
Honesty under pressure is difficult. When you face an authority figure pushing you to lie it is tempting to tell them what they want to hear. In these types of situations honesty can lead to demotion, cruelty, firing, and sometimes worse. How do we stay firm in our convictions in the Lord when faced with this pressure?
Treasure God's opinion of you. Find joy in loving the Lord. Pursue joy in the presence of the Lord. Love what the Lord loves. Hate what the Lord hates. When you rest in God's presence, secure in his affirmation, you will not as easily fall into temptation to lie when faced with pressure from powerful people.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Taken from reading 1 Kings 21-22
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