1 Kings 13:12-17: a reflection

12Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah. 13He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it. 14He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.” 15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17For it was said to me by the LORD’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’”

An old prophet rides out to find the man of God from Judah, who had delivered God's word against the false altar and been given clear instructions: eat no bread and drink no water in that place, and do not return by the way you came. When the old prophet finds him and invites him home to eat, the man of God's first response is admirable: I may not return with you or eat bread here, for the Lord commanded me not to. He holds firmly to the specific word God had given him.

This initial faithfulness is worth pausing on, because the story later takes a tragic turn: the old prophet deceives the man of God into disobeying, and it costs him dearly. But here, at first, he gets it right. Faced with a friendly, reasonable-sounding invitation to set aside what God had clearly told him, he refuses. He does not let hospitality, or the appearance of another godly man, talk him out of obeying God's explicit command. He knows what God said, and he holds to it.

There is a lesson in his initial firmness. When God has given you a clear word or conviction, others, even sincere, godly-seeming people, may invite you to set it aside, to make an exception, to be reasonable. The man of God's first instinct is the right one: hold firmly to what God has told you. Do not let friendly persuasion or the pressure of others override a clear command of God. His later failure warns us how much is at stake; his initial faithfulness shows us the way. When you know what God has said, stand on it.

Lord, when the man of God was invited to set aside your clear command, his first response was to hold firmly to it: I may not, for the Lord commanded me. Give me that same resolve. When others, even sincere and godly-seeming ones, would persuade me to make an exception to what you have clearly said, help me to stand firm. Do not let friendly pressure override your word. Keep me holding to what you have told me. Amen.