What mercy He has!

    I was reading 1 Kings 20 and was struck by how merciful God was to Ahab. Ahab was one of the most wicked kings Israel had seen yet. He totally rebelled against God and refused to obey Him.
    Ben-hadad, the king of Syria decided to come up and fight Ahab and take all his possessions. Ahab's army was useless because Ben-hadad thought it would be fun to take 32 kings with him. In fact the outcome of this battle was so obvious that before he fought he already said he owned all of Ahab's goods.
     God, on the other hand wanted to prove to Ahab that He was God. He was giving Ahab another chance to turn to Him. So God sent a prophet to tell Ahab that God would deliver this great multitude into his hand. Ahab then asked the prophet who would lead the army. The prophet answered, "You." That is another example of God's mercy. He would even let Ahab lead the army even though he was such an evil king.
    So the armies went out to fight. If somebody was watching it on live T.V. they would have put all their bets on Syria. Well all those people would end up broke, because God, true to His word, gave Israel the victory. Israel's skimpy army absolutely swallowed Syria's mammoth forces.
    After this war, did Ahab turn to God? No! Nor after the nest big victory recorded in this chapter.
    I am just as bad as Ahab. I don't deserve God's mercy. But I am so grateful that He gave me a chance, and I am so glad I took it. I don't want to squander it. Ahab and his family ended in a bad way because he took ne heed to his oppurtunity, and he lost everything that was ever important -- a relationship with The Only True God, The Great I Am, The Holy God with Immeasurable Mercy.