A Thought For Your Christian Journey:

Naboth and Ahab

1 Kings 21:5-7 ⁵ But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? ⁶ And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. ⁷ And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Have you ever led someone to do something without ever saying a word to them?  Often parents can get their children to stop doing something just by looking at them a certain way.  Husbands often talk about their wives giving them “the look!”  I have heard it said that over 70% of our communication is expressed through our body language. 

This is much of what happened between Ahab and Jezebel concerning Naboth.  Ahab wanted Naboth’s land, but Naboth could not give up his family’s inheritance.  Ahab was so covetous of Naboth’s property that he pouted because he could not have it.  Jezebel pickup on Ahad’s body language and, without a direct word from Ahab, took care of the matter.  In the end, God held Ahab and Jezebel both responsible for the murder of Naboth.   

We need to understand that our desires can easily be expressed without a word.  If we cause someone to do something even though we never really asked them to do it, then God will hold us responsible for our actions.  The point is that we must be careful that we do not cause someone else to stumble and do what we know should not be done or what we know we could never do ourselves.  Our Heavenly Father looks on our hearts and the intent of our hearts, so we must be careful to keep our hearts pure and right with God. 

What are you saying, without ever saying it?

CrossRoads Email August 19, 2009

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