I've been reading about the Kings of Israel and Judah of late, and one thing that caught my eye was the wise choices of Jehosophat in his dealings with Ahab. When asked in 1 Kings 22:4 if he would fight with Ahab, he said "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses" but, he also said "First seek the counsel of the Lord." And then when Ahab presents some four hundred prophets, Jehosophat feels the need to specify, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?" And he had Micaiah brought to him, despite Ahab proffessing to hate him, Jehosophat even advised Ahab not to speak that way about him.

What I particularly liked about this is that, placed in a situation where he had to make a descicion Jehosophat chose not to go from his own wisdom, or to just go along with what Ahab was asking, he could have thought it through in his mind and decided on something, however he said "First seek the counsel of the Lord." he wasn't going to rush into anything without seeking advice first, he was not going to be rash in his decision making. So Ahab presented him with "prophets", about four hundred of them, but Jehosophat made another decision, and that was to seek wise counsel, not from Ahab's four hundred Parrots, Jehosophat wanted to hear it from a Prophet of the Lord. He made a consciouss choice to seek Godly counsel, not to just to take the first advice offered, or the most popular opinion. The contrasting attitude with that of Ahab who hated God's prophet is clear to see, he wanted his own yes men ahead of the wise advice from God, and he ultimatly paid the price with his life.

It's often easy in life just to make a snap decision, or to take the advice that says what we want to hear, or we think is best for us. It's not always the easiest option to seek the best advice, but it is always the wisest, and we'd all do so much better for applying what Jehosophat did in our lives. And praying about our decisions, and listening to wise advice.

Blessings,

Pete...