One day, many years ago, I was working at a Denver hotel when a man with no money came in to rent a room. He promised to pay the rent when his “royalty check” came in … and then he winked and told the staff that he was the legendary “Spanky” McFarland of “Our Gang” fame.

I knew he was lying. I’d seen pictures of the real Spanky as an adult and this guy wasn’t him. The grown-up Spanky in the pictures I’d seen looked pretty much the same way he’d looked as a kid; amiable and well rounded. This guy, on the other hand, looked more like Willie Nelson after a three-decade fast.

I tried to convince the others but nobody wanted to listen. I was taking away their fun. They wanted him to be Spanky and they didn’t much care whether he actually was or not. Meeting Spanky gave them life-long bragging rights and they were willing to pay any price to gain those riches. So, in the end, the “child star” stayed and I fumed. Later, “Spanky” skipped out on his bill without paying a penny and I crowed like a waking rooster.

In today’s passage, King Ahab employed a myriad of false prophets for the simple purpose of always telling him whatever he wanted to hear. Meanwhile, the one true prophet he had was not a favorite of his. He didn’t like Micaiah precisely because he told him things he didn’t want to hear (1 Kings 22:18). The king’s refusal to hear those unpleasant realities eventually cost him his life (1 Kings 22:29–38) and such obstinance can cost men just as much or more today. Even as Christians, you and I can sometimes flinch at the harsher lessons of the Bible, but we are much better off when we heed its counsel (Prov. 27:6), even reluctantly, than we are when we settle for the gentle scratching of our ears with sweet sounding fairy tales (2 Tim. 4:3).

Vince Hartford

Extended Scripture: 1 Kings 21–22