“So the king of Israel went home to Samaria angry and sullen.” 1 Kings 20:43
“So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth’s answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat.”
1 Kings 21:4
Sometimes children are angry and pout when they don’t get their own way, but for a grown-up king to act like that—unbelievable!
First Ahab was angry and sullen because someone rebuked him for his actions, and second because he didn’t get what HE wanted! However, several verses later there’s a phrase that possibly could explain the root of Ahab’s sullen appearance: He “sold himself to what was evil in the LORD’s sight.” (21:20, 25)
Growing up, I watched my father sell many herds of cattle, and every year he had to be careful to keep from being “took” by deceitful buyers. Satan failed at buying his way to fame in heaven, but since then he’s never stopped trying to buy worship from us. His deceitful schemes sound so sensible—YOU need to focus on YOURSELF, do what YOU want, stand up for YOUR rights. We too can be persuaded to sell ourselves to evil because Satan uses our own deceitful, selfish hearts (Jer. 17:9) to get what he wants. Then he laughs as we flounder in our self-centered world, angry and sullen, realizing we have been “took!”
When SELF does not get what SELF wants,
lines of anger begin to burrow their way across our sullen faces.
And that’s not a welcome sight for anyone to behold!
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