Good Morning and welcome to my Daily Scripture Word!

Today's question asks:

• I Kings 13:16-18 onwards, rest of the chapter. Could one use this passage to promote “the word of The Lord is more sure than any angel/God spoke to me” claim, or is that stretching the point of the story here?
• Curious that the old prophet seemed to be a dodgy dude, but somehow God saw fit to speak through him when needed. Unless his title of “old prophet” (V11) was a self-given title? That he never really was used of God until his shock-horror moment in Vss.20-21?

Let’s check out the passage first:

• I Kings 13:16-18, “And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.”

You slip in a couple of questions here, so let me break it down...

#1 - The Word of The Lord: in one sense I think you could. However, in the context it would be difficult to make this ‘stick’ because there wasn’t a whole lot of the Written Word of God at this time, not like we have today. So, I personally would probably not go that route with this passage of Scripture. I think also you have to keep in mind that last phrase: “But he lied unto him.” It’s not that God couldn’t send an angel with a message – that happens quite a number of times in The Bible, Gideon, Mary, even John the Apostle with The Revelation! But in this case God sent NOTHING to this old prophet, he literally lied!

#2 - Curious that this old prophet is ‘dodgy’: and I completely agree! It is a sad reality that people whose relationship with The Lord has waned will often try to associate themselves with folks who relationship with The Lord is good in order to justify their backslidden state. But there is stands: not even every Man of God is right with God! Some are in fact quite dodgy! 

#3 - Title: I don’t think this is a self-given title as Verse 11 states that he was an ‘old prophet’. I think it more that his walk with God wasn’t what it should have been! When we consider the time this occurs, it is right after the break in the Kingdom of Israel, and by the end of Solomon’s reign, Faith in God had fallen to mere religious practice. It wasn’t that there weren’t any true believers, but more that coming off a sustained period of peace and prosperity, God’s people had become lazy. It’s actually not a whole lot different than what Western Christianity is experiencing today!

A good lesson for us to learn would be: despite the blessings of God on us for peace and prosperity, we cannot sit back on our laurels, but must continue to ensure our walk with God is where it needs to be! For we too could end up just like this old prophet!