There is a rule in life that stands the test of time. You get what you deserve. That is, if you do bad, eventually it will catch up with you. If you do good, good will find you. This principle should be of no surprise; God clearly tells us this life lesson in Galatians 6:7:
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
But have you ever tried to sit a 4-year-old down and explain this proverbial and metaphorical ideology that whatever seed you set out will indeed harvest the same horticultural species? Talk about lost in translation. But as you grow up, you do indeed learn this invaluable lesson. And it is invariably taught to you in your formative years by your parents.
I grew up in a pretty easy-going household. Sure, with two older brothers we had some epic battles, but for the most part, no broken bones, and no major concussions ensued (that I know of.) But if you truly sought to incur the wrath of one of our parents, you could. But you’d have to work at it. As I did err in behavior, I first received a loving correction and an explanation of what I did wrong. If I did the same again, the intensity of the correction increased, the next rebuke levelling up. Maybe this time the dreaded “sit down talk” about how my behavior was disrespectful and disappointing. And after this, if I still persisted in my rebellious behavior, the ante was upped even farther. Maybe a flyswatter was involved. And if the offense was egregious enough, yes, the board of education might be applied to the seat of learning. But my point being, you had to really work hard to get to this point. Let's face it, it takes effort to get in trouble.
This brings up the idea of provocation. Base word “provoke”, as in “to provoke.” We see this term come up not once but a surprising 5 times in 1 Kings chapter 16 today. Provoke is defined as, “stimulate or incite someone to do or feel something, especially by arousing anger in them.” I think we’re all genuinely familiar with this term and if I gave you a 5-minute thinking break, I’m sure that you could easily recall at least 20 times when someone has provoked you to anger. I mean, just last night in the hurricane shelter there were a few people that provoked me to anger with their snoring that at times seemed to drown out Delta herself. But the idea is that just like dripping water, it takes a little effort to provoke someone. Especially someone that is very mild-mannered. Sure, there are people that are ready to fly off the handle in an instant, but for most people, it takes some effort to get them riled up.
Growing up I think we’ve also all had moments where we were on the flip side, that is, intentionally trying to provoke someone. This is especially true if you had brothers or sisters. You wanted to get a rise out of them so you would find something that really annoyed them, and then do it over and over until they snapped. (And then you would yell for mom and tell her they hit you.) Oh, the lessons of childhood. But did you ever try that with someone that wouldn’t bite? You know, they just wouldn’t be provoked? They were calm, mild-mannered, even keeled and well, just seemingly impervious to get worked up. They were gracious towards you and your behavior, slow to anger with you, and regardless of your provocation, always abounding in love. Sound familiar?
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” Psalm 103:8
So, considering this verse, do you think you could ever provoke God to anger? The answer is a simple, yes. As we will see today, pure and blatant evil, intentionally performed over and over can indeed provoke even God to anger. Let’s take a quick peek at 5 kings that were successful in provoking God to anger.
Baasha. “you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins.” “because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it. 1 Kings 16:3, 7b
Elam. “for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols.” 1 Kings 16:13
Zimri. “because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin.” 1 Kings 16:19
Omri. “Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.” 1 Kings 16:25-26
Ahab. “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” 1 Kings 16:30-33
And you might be wondering just exactly what these king’s provocation of God earned them? Baasha was dethroned and denied a proper burial, God designating his body to instead be disgracefully eaten by dogs. Elam only ruled 2 years and was brutally assassinated. Zimri only ruled 7 days before being trapped in his house by an angry mob that sought his life. He chose to burn himself alive in his own house. Ahab was killed in battle, his blood disgracefully lapped up by dogs. And his uber evil wife Jezebel that was famous for hounding the prophet Elijah? She threw herself over a balcony to escape assassination, her body then disgracefully eaten by dogs.
All tough stories to encounter. And all brought about by men and women who constantly provoked God with their sin. But don't make the mistake of flippantly look down at these kings today. You see, we are all sinners, we will all sin, that’s a guarantee. (Romans 3:23) But how do you handle that sin in your life? Do you embrace it and just consider it a regular part of your life? Has your sin become so normal that it now just seems OK? Folks, our world today has created a false fairy tale god that simply floats around and loves and blesses everyone who breathes. Our world has concocted a god that should give us what we want when we ask and then never look at the debaucherous sin that our hands commit. It is all a lie directly from the mouth of satan. God hates sin because of what sin does…it destroys. It destroys us, it destroys our relationships, and it even destroys those around us. Growing up my parents would never have let me simply do what was bad for me out of their great love. You see, it was in their great love that they wanted to see me avoid the pitfalls of my own evil behavior. As a loving Heavenly Father, God is no different.
Today, don’t provoke God. Don’t look at your sin recklessly, thinking it has no repercussions in life. Yes, God is compassionate and gracious. Yes, God is amazingly slow to anger. And yes, God is abounding in rich, merciful, unconditional love. But just as we see in our chapter this morning, He can be provoked by those that choose their own evil, sin and idol worship over His goodness, righteousness and love.
Blessings.
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