Here we find an example in the Old Testament of that great spiritual principle so clearly declared in the New Testament: “God our Savior . . . desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3\u20134).<\/p>\n
Years ago, Dr. J. Vernon McGee told a story on the radio about the final days of former President John F. Kennedy. Just how morally corrupt Kennedy was is common knowledge today, but what most do not know is that the weekend before his death in Dallas, he called Billy Graham to the White House to speak with him about spiritual things. McGee heard that they had a 3-hour meeting together. A few years later he met Grady Wilson, a member of the Graham team, at a dinner and asked him if the story of Kennedy and Graham having a 3-hour meeting was true. Wilson answered, “No, that is not true. The meeting lasted 8 hours!”<\/p>\n
Only God knows what really takes place in the heart of a human being. But it is comforting to know that our heavenly Father does not want anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance. This is as true for any person on planet earth in our day as it was for King Ahab. And it is our great privilege to take this message to a dying world.<\/p>\n
“LORD, please give us the words and actions that will lead others to You this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Kings 21 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass after these things,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it;\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>And Naboth said to Ahab, The\u00a0LORD\u00a0forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5<\/sup> But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u00a0another\u00a0<\/em>vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0So she wrote letters in Ahab\u2019s name, and sealed\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>in his city, dwelling with Naboth.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And\u00a0then\u00a0<\/em>carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And the men of his city,\u00a0even<\/em>the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>as it\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>written in the letters which she had sent unto them.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. 17<\/sup>\u00a0And the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in Samaria: behold,\u00a0he is\u00a0<\/em>in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found\u00a0thee:<\/em>because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked\u00a0me\u00a0<\/em>to anger, and made Israel to sin.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And of Jezebel also spake the\u00a0LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.\u00a0\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. 25<\/sup>\u00a0But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all\u00a0things\u00a0<\/em>as did the Amorites, whom the\u00a0LORD\u00a0cast out before the children of Israel.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days:\u00a0but\u00a0<\/em>in his son\u2019s days will I bring the evil upon his house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here we find an example in the Old Testament of that great spiritual principle so clearly declared in the New Testament: “God our Savior . . . desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3\u20134). Years ago, Dr. J. Vernon McGee told a story on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6780"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16263,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780\/revisions\/16263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}