[Blows dust off blog]
Hey! Hey! Hey!
What’s cracking over here?
It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it?
Happy New Year, Happy Valentines Day, Happy International Women’s Day, Happy Easter and happy everything else in between!
There’s a Swahili proverb that says, “mcheka kilema hafi hakijamfika” which is translated to mean, if you laugh at a crippled person, you won’t die before the same thing happens to you. So why am I mentioning this to you? There’s a friend of mine called Maria Saru; she has a blog called AfroMapenzi and I remember laughing at her when she hadn’t posted any article in slightly over six months. Guess what? The exact same thing happened to me!! Whew! Where do I even start?
I have absolutely no reason why I haven’t posted in such a long time. Procrastination and laziness… those are the two the greatest culprits.
Okay, that’s enough agonizing about what happened. Let’s move on now.
How’ve you been though?
I’ve missed y’all!
I have a message from the Lord… Hallelujah!
Remember when I told you that the Bible is funny? Rather, God is funny! He really is!
Let me take you to 1 Kings 13. I’d like to tell you a story…
There’s this King called Jeroboam who was quite erm… hard headed to say the least. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord (my King James Version (KJV) English is improving ey? 😉 ). So this day, Jeroboam is offering a sacrifice at the altar and God sends His prophet to tell Jeroboam that He is done with Jeroboam’s insolence and that He will raise another king in his place.
“This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”
1 Kings 13: 2 NIV
This man, who the Bible describes as a “man of God”, does exactly what God tells him to do and faces the wrath of Jeroboam. King Jeroboam orders his guards to seize the prophet and you know what? As Jeroboam points to the prophet to identify to the guards whom they are meant to arrest, his hand gets paralyzed and freezes in place.
“When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.”
1 Kings 13: 4 NIV
Now the king had to eat humble pie and ask the very same prophet he wanted arrested, to intercede to the Lord on his behalf so that his and can be restored. Awkward much? That must have been embarrassing for the king!
“Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.”
1 Kings 13: 6 NIV
After his hand was restored, the King now wants to be homies with the prophet but the man-whose-name-has-not-been-mentioned, politely declines the offer.
God had given the prophet strict instructions not to indulge in any food or drink for the next three days.
“The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.” But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”
1 Kings 13: 7-9 NIV
So the man of God heads on his way and not too long into his journey, he is met by an “old prophet”. I wonder why the Bible is skimping out on the names in this chapter. So far, it is only the king whose name has ben given.
“Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.”
1 Kings 13: 11-14 NIV
Mr. OP (Old Prophet) invites MoG (Man of God) for a meal and once again, MoG declines because God had given him strict instructions not to indulge in any food or drink for the next three days.
“So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.” The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”
1 Kings 13: 15-17 NIV
Mr. OP, however, doesn’t take no for an answer. He insists that MoG should have a meal with him; after all, he’s been “in the game” longer than MoG. Buuuuuuut… Mr. OP had sinister motives up his sleeve.
The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.)
1 Kings 13: 18 NIV
After much convincing from Mr. OP, MoG eventually caved in to his demands and went with Mr. OP back to his house (verse 19). As they were having their meal, guess what happened??
To be continued…
Stay tuned! 😉
XO,
#SpreadTheGospel 
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