Desire aren’t bad. Wanting things is not wrong. In fact, Psalm 37:4 promises that if we delight ourselves in God, He will give us our desires because we will be aligned properly with His will.
But, desires often pull us off the paths of righteousness and into the . . . well, let’s just call them the bushes of despair. Maybe the ditches of discouragement. And, well, the sidewalks of stupidity.
Let’s take a look at King Ahab in 1 Kings 21.
1. He had a DESIRE.
But, if you know anything about Ahab, he was a BAD guy. A bad, bad guy. In fact, the Bible says “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab.” Big oof.
What did Ahab want? Well, to put it simply, he wanted some grapes. Well okay, really he wanted Naboth’s vineyard (poor, unfortunate Naboth) so he could turn it into a vegetable garden (come on, sir . . . are carrots really THAT important to you??).
2. He makes a DEMAND.
Ahab brazenly asks Naboth for the vineyard. What do we do about our desires? Do we act on them? Do we hide them away and let them simmer? Or do we give them over to God, whether they’re good or bad?
3. He gets a REJECTION.
Naboth says “. . . no, according to biblical law actually, I can’t give this to you because I inherited it from my father.”
Sometimes in life, we’ll have a desire and it’ll get rejected. Maybe it was a bad desire. Or maybe it was even a good desire. Ahab wanting a vegetable garden seems harmless enough, right? And another example: David wanted to build God a temple, but God said, “No: that’s a job for your son. YOU are a warrior.”
4. He has a REACTION.
The difference between an Ahab and a Daniel is their reaction. What happens when God tells you “No”?
Jacob wanted (DEMAND) his father’s blessing (DESIRE), but that blessing belonged to his older brother (REJECTION). So what did he do? His mommy dressed Jacob up like his brother and fooled the father into blessing Jacob instead of Esau (REACTION).
Moses wanted (DEMAND) Israel to stop complaining (DESIRE), but they kept getting worse and worse (REJECTION). So what did he do? He hit a rock angrily (REACTION).
And the classic example (which I’ve really been meditating on recently): Eve wanted to be like God and to have His knowledge, results of eating a certain kind of fruit (DESIRE), but God had given her and Adam one rule: don’t eat the forbidden fruit (REJECTION). And yet, when persuaded by the snake, she took the fruit and even gave it to her husband (REACTION).
We are creatures of forbidden fruit. Of stolen vineyards and of stolen blessings. We want that which we can’t have, and we are often fooled into wholeheartedly believing we deserve that which we crave.
What did Ahab do? He
- was vexed
- was sullen
- laid down on his bed
- refused to eat
5. He finds a DETOUR.
Now, the story could’ve stopped here. BUT . . . it doesn’t. This brings up a super important point: be careful about who you surround yourself by.
After David, the Bible speaks of no other king’s wife besides Ahab’s. The notorious Jezebel is often the puppet master behind the curtains, so to speak, cheering Ahab on in his wicked ways and always pushing the bar.
A good friend will celebrate with you when God closes a bad door or opens a good one. A good friend will also be there to help you stay accountable when God is saying NO to something you want that seems like a good idea.
It’s the friends that question God that we must be wary of. The friends that butter us up a bit too much, that never try to sharpen us like iron. Many a Christian has fallen in the trap of detours given by less-than-exceptional friends.
6. He creates a STRATEGY.
Humans are smart. We’re goal-oriented. It’s natural for us to want something, make a plan to get it, and then execute that plan until we’re blue in the face (if we really, really want that thing).
So, it’s the same thing here. And especially with detours. Jezebel helped Ahab plan his detour. Are your friends offering side routes? Are they helping you come up with ways to reroute, to go around and over and away from God’s will?
Jezebel’s glamourous plan is to KILL Naboth (accuse him of blasphemy and then stone him, to be specific). Come on. This poor man was killed over carrots??
This strategizing will only lead to bad consequences which we see below . . .
7. He suffers the CONSEQUENCES.
Ahab gets his dream garden plot, but Elijah has a message for him. God is so angry that He warns Ahab about his upcoming, ugly death: his blood will be licked up by dogs.
There are consequences to all detours. They may be more subtle, they may be more emotional, but they WILL happen. As Christians, these consequences are to warn us that we’re getting off the path.
For people like Ahab, well, they’re warnings to just plain old get ON the path. Although the Bible reports that Ahab put on a great show after this event, weeping and tearing his clothes and repenting, it never seems that he actually gets saved. He’s like Pharaoh, so close on a few occasions when things get terribly-ugly-bad, but never exactly there.
We can learn a LOT from this story. Inordinate desires lead us to make demands, which are rejected ultimately by God. We are responsible for our reaction, and the train of bad decisions can end here . . . or we can fall into the trap of taking a detour, planning a strategy, and ultimately facing the consequences.
Guys, all these bad desires are just carrots in the eyes of heaven. Seriously!! One day we’ll be able to look back and see that a lot of what we want here on earth just plain isn’t important.
