Opening the Door to Calamity
In 1 Kings 13:21-25, God provides us with quite an unusual story,
And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'" So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
Notice that the lion did something very unnatural. The guy disobeyed, the lion killed him, but the lion didn't go after the donkey. The donkey didn't run away, but the lion didn't try to kill the donkey, nor did it drag the guy off to eat him.
And to top it all off, now people start to walk by. Look, people do not walk by wild lions! But here they are: the donkey, the lion, the dead guy, and people are walking by.
What is God up to here? He is giving a snapshot, something He wants indelibly burned into their understanding: Disobedience opens the door to calamity.
If you choose to disobey God, know you have opened your life to calamity!
Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to connect with God.
Chase the abundant life God has for you!
Peace, love, purpose, passion, restoration, healing . . . we all want to experience those things this year. But is it actually possible?
It is—because God invites you to pursue the abundant life in Him every day! And you’ll find out exactly how to do that with Bayless Conley’s NEW book, Great Pursuits: Chasing What Matters Most in Life.
This resource gives you scriptural, practical, and personal lessons from God’s Word—as well as from Bayless’ own life—to help you pursue what’s most important in life even in these challenging times.