"So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased"-1 Kings 20:43

No one likes a sulky person. When he does not get things to go his way, he pouts and mopes and cannot be happy. He cannot handle the variety of situations life throws at him. If he is rebuked, he will be bitter and angry and not profit from it. A great example of such a person is the infamous King Ahab. Scripture tells us that "there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord"(1 Kings 21:25). Yet one often overlooked distasteful trait in Ahab is this same sulkiness that we so despise in ourselves and in others. Let us notice the things that made Ahab so sullen to ensure that we do not react in similar ways.

Ahab became sullen when things didn't go his way. He wanted the vineyard of Naboth, yet Naboth would not give it to him because it was his inheritance. Ahab, for all his faults, tried very hard to be nice to Naboth and acquire the vineyard in a respectable way, yet things just didn't go his way. How did Ahab react? He "went to his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him"(1 Kings 21:4). How bad did it get? "And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food"(v. 4). Here the king of Israel is sulking and fasting, his wife eventually has Naboth murdered, and this is all over the matter of a vineyard! Ahab reminds us that we must react properly when things don't go our way.

Often we find ourselves in situations that are less than desirable, yet we must learn to behave ourselves properly. It would not do for us to always sulk and pout because things don't suit us. Hear the attitude of Paul: "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound"(Phil 4:11-12). Jesus put Himself through awful situations because we needed His blood. Never did the great spiritual heroes sulk and whine because things didn't go their way. We must remember that God still cares about our problems and struggles (1 Pet 5:7), yet we must not react poorly when things don't go our way.

Ahab also became sullen on more than one occasion when God's word hurt him. Ahab attacked the Syrians and captured their king, Ben-Hadad. Even though God wanted him to die, Ahab spared Ben-Hadad. God sent His prophet to tell Ahab that he had done wrong, and "therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people"(1 Kings 20:42). At this news, Ahab "went to his house sullen and displeased"(v. 43). Surely Ahab was just trying to show mercy to Ben-Hadad, and it probably didn't seem fair that God came down so hard on him. Yet much like a little child, Ahab does not plead, mourn, or repent-he becomes sullen. On another occasion, Ahab's opinion about Micaiah, a prophet of God, reveals this same sullenness. When preparing to attack Ramoth Gilead, Ahab says of Micaiah that "I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil"(1 Kings 22:8). Rather than listening to the words of the God of heaven through His prophets, Ahab would rather just tell of how he hates the prophet. Ahab was quite quick to turn on the messenger telling him the truth rather than listening to the truth itself. When God's word hurt, Ahab became sullen and hateful.

We must be careful that we do not have the same attitude toward God's word. Often God's word will leave us "cut to the heart"(Acts 2:37), yet we must be sure that we respond well to the rebukes we find in the Bible. So often when God's word cuts us, we become bitter. We may attack the messenger ("Who does he think he is?"), we may ignore the truth, we may become angry ("No one can tell me what to do"), or we may persist in unbelief. How often do we hear "I just can't believe in a God who would…"? This is simply a sullenness in the face of God's word. Remember the proper attitude: "For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe"(1 Th 2:13). Let us receive God's word as it is, the word of God, and not be sullen when it cuts us.

Ahab teaches us many lessons we would do well to heed. God wants us to respond properly when things are not perfect in our lives and when His word hurts. Let us learn to comply and be content with the word of God alone.___Jacob Hudgins