There never was a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD … He behaved in the vilest manner… Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me?  Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day…” (1 Kings 21:25-26, 28-29).

Perhaps you’ve noticed: last week’s passage on David and Bathsheba, and this week’s on Ahab and Naboth, have a lot in common: a person with power wants something that is someone else’s; power is used to manipulate and murder the weak who are “in the way”; the powerful one seems to get away with it; God confronts the grasping, scheming, murdering king by sending a prophet; there is some measure of contrition, repentance, and even a bit of change.  At least for a little while, in Ahab’s case, perhaps more in David’s.

God is faithful to send his correcting Word when we need it (which is all the time and continuously!).  While our consciences are not infallible, they can confront and correct us.  Truths that we have heard and known can come back to haunt us when we seek to shadow ourselves in darkness.  A long-ago-memorized verse from the Bible suddenly pops into our heads.  A sermon is preached that seems to have been deliberately designed just for us.  A friend, a family member, sometimes even a random person will say something to us, and we find ourselves both resenting and disliking what was said, but also being unable to escape from it, because we’re pretty sure there’s some truth to it.

How do we respond to correction?  Immediately argumentative, defensive, resentful?  Denial, rationalization, self-justification?  Retreating into self-pity and you-don’t-understand-me?  Collapsing into more shame and self-loathing?

Not every correction is correct.  Every challenge does not need to be met and defeated or overcome.  Not everything anyone says to you is right, and neither are all the voices in our heads.

But we kind of do know when it’s God.

Ahab was one of the worst kings in Israel’s long and sad history of mainly bad kings.  Like David, he is willing to treat murder as a mere speed bump on his way to getting his way.

And yet, and yet: confronted by the prophet Elijah, something within Ahab breaks: When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted … and went around meekly (verse 27).  

Earlier this week, we quoted Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “The line separating good and evil passes … right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts … And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.” 

Whatever “small bridgehead of good” there may be in us has been built by God.  He is faithful to send his truth toward us, whose fractured hearts are often overwhelmed by evil, by the evil done to us, and the evil we have done.  As the life-saving, life-giving Word approaches, in whatever form or shape it comes, will it find us heavily defended, or willing to welcome?  Willing at least to listen?

Has God’s mercy, in the form of correction, been reaching out to you in some way over the past few months?  How have you responded – and how would you like to respond?