Devotional on 1 Kings

2016 – Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park, TX

The God of the mountain
1Kings 20: Their god is a god of the mountains.
Israel has already soundly defeated Ben-Hadad and his forces once, but he’s ready to go to battle a second time. After some reflection he thinks he understands what happened. It was their God who engineered the defeat. It has to be something like that because he knows that he has the superior army. Know what? He’s absolutely correct! The only reason he lost the first battle was because of the God of Israel, otherwise, there was no way that Israel could have survived, much less came away victorious. Ben-Hadad needs a battle plan that will not only over-power Israel, but will somehow circumvent their “God advantage.” His solution is to draw the Israelite army out of the hill country and onto the plain. He thinks that their God is a limited God, whose power is concentrated in the mountains. If he can fight Israel out on the plains he’ll level the playing field (pun intended) and easily defeat Israel. Know what? He is totally mistaken! This underestimation of Jehovah God will lead to an even more humiliating defeat than before. God is not a territorial God and no place is beyond his authority. To this day God is still Lord of all. There’s no part of my life that operates beyond his reach. Religious stuff, sure, but also everything from my every day coming and going and the big, unexpected life changing stuff too. The God of the mountain is also the God of the plain.
Take Away: Where I am, God is.

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