I remember over twenty years ago when I had a bully boss. He would belittle his employees in public. And then laugh. He would lord it over us and let us know that he was the man in charge. And behind closed doors, he would treat women on his team disrespectfully if he felt threatened by them. I heard other women say subtle things about his behavior, but I didn’t quite understand what they were talking about. Until one day, it was my turn to be belittled and threatened.
He had begun to push certain work onto me that was not mine to do. I let him know that I disagreed with his intentions, so the bullying began. And boy did he know how to bully. I had never experienced that type of behavior, and boy was it uncomfortable. He threatened my job and made my work life miserable. I finally understood what the other women were talking about. And I stood firm in my decision to say no to his demands.
And then after one of the most experienced women on our team left the company, she called me. She knew what was happening to me, so she suggested I call HR and fill them in. So I did. After everyone had left for the day, I walked into a conference room and closed the door. Then I called our HR representative and told my story. What I didn’t know at that time was the woman who had called me the day before had told a similar story to mine in her exit interview. After a proper investigation was completed in our department, no one was told if any punishment was meted out to our manager. But he suddenly became nice to me. And then I got laid off a few months later.
This man wreaked havoc not only on the women, but he would make inappropriate comments to his male employees in department meetings. He was rude and unchecked. He acted as if he could reign supreme and nothing would happen to him. Anyone was fair game. But usually it was women he set his sights on.
This man who thought he could treat his employees as underlings later learned that he was no better than them, because he too eventually lost his job when that company closed its doors. He too became unemployed along with everyone else. He did not have the last laugh. He had to find a new career, just as I had already done months earlier.
A warrior putting on his sword for battle should not boast like a warrior who has already won. 1 Kings 20:11
Have you ever known a really evil person who once in their lifetime says something profound? I’m not sure that I have, but it has happened. At least once. And it wasn’t recent.
King Ahab, the most evil king who ever ascended the throne of Israel once suggested one of the wisest truths of all times. Oh. He had an unwieldy past with his nation, so let’s explore that before we think about his wise saying. His father, King Omri had been considered the worst king of Israel. That is, until his son Ahab took the throne. Over time, Ahab gained the reputation of being the absolute worst and most evil king who ever ruled Israel.
Ahab had married a princess named Jezebel, the daughter of an evil king from Sidon. She brought idol worship to their marriage, mainly the worship of Baal. And Ahab, wanting to please his wife, allowed her to worship this manmade god. He did not follow in the footsteps of some of the earlier Israelite kings in worshipping the One True God. He was in a line of kings who descended further down the path of running from God. Running from God is a very slippery slope. Like his father, he allowed others to influence his spiritual life, and he led the nation down a dark, dark path of idolatry. The further they moved from worshipping God, the more evil he became. It is a natural progression, even still to this day.
Together, Ahab and Jezebel wreaked havoc throughout the nation of Israel. And that really isn’t anything to brag about. How can they claim bragging rights to building up the country when a noticeable spiritual decline was in progress? The country went from bad to worse.
The other unique thing about Ahab’s reign is that, even though he kept running farther and farther away from God, God still helped him win battles against his adversaries. But Ahab kept ignoring God’s help. And his adversaries kept coming for him and Israel. They would not let up in their pursuit of this nation.
King Ahab was able to defeat his enemy, King Ben-Hadad of Aram by following God’s instructions. This enemy king had brought thirty two allied kings with him to wipe out King Ahab in Samaria, the capital city of Israel. And still in his running from God, he and his army defeated them.
You can read the story of King Ahab’s victories and downfall in 1 Kings 20.
It’s unusual for most people to boast before they’ve been announced the victor, but that’s exactly what King Ahab did. Oh. He was addressing the other king who had been boasting. Here’s what he said. He stated that a warrior putting on his armor for battle should not boast like a warrior who has won. And he spoke wisely. When you examine that one sentence out of his entire life, it seems odd that it would come from him. He didn’t act or live like a godly man, but he knew the power of God. Even though he wasn’t living in obedience to God, he knew what God was capable of doing. He knew that all things are possible with God. Perhaps he wasn’t even considering that God could win the battle for him when he said that. He may have just been relying on himself and his army. Who really knows.
But Israel did indeed win the battle that day. He not only beat Ben-Hadad, but he also beat the other thirty two kings who had come along that day. If he thought he needed to boast, now was the time to do so.
Don’t we all know it? The best way to be defeated is to boast of victory before it’s ours. It’s a known fact that we shouldn’t puff ourselves up before the contest has begun. It’s a sure sign of failure. Ahab warned Ben-Hadad of just this thing, and he was proven right.
We can never be too self assured. We never know what’s around the corner. Whether we’re being attacked or if we’re on the attack, humility and faith in God are the winning way in life. Oh. It isn’t always easy. It doesn’t always seem the most popular route. But when has trusting God really been the popular route to take? Or the easiest? Living the Christian life isn’t for wimps. It isn’t for the cowardly. If we are to boast, we must boast in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we can boast about him every step of our journey, because we know that in the end he is the supreme winner.
In our race to win the prize for Christ, we can’t boast in our own efforts or gains. We don’t know what lies ahead. We don’t know the battles we haven’t yet faced. Our boasting, if we must, must be in the all knowing, all seeing, all powerful God of the Universe. Only he is worthy of praise and honor. Our successes will fall by the wayside, but he stands forever strong. We must always stay on guard, because we too may fall on the sword of boasting before our battle is won.
Mercy for the Day 