Before and after

This week is on two sections of scripture. You're welcome to read the parts in between them, but I left it out here in the interest of readability.

We'll get going with 1 Kings 20:1-10:

Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.' "

The king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours."

The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.' "

The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, "See how this man is looking for trouble! When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him."

The elders and the people all answered, "Don't listen to him or agree to his demands."

So he replied to Ben-Hadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king, 'Your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot meet.' " They left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad.

Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful."

Then we'll skip along and finish up with 1 Kings 20:29-32:

For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day. The rest of them escaped to the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on twenty-seven thousand of them. And Ben-Hadad fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

His officials said to him, "Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life."

Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-Hadad says: 'Please let me live.' " [...]

In the beginning of the story, we have naughty King Ahab facing a huge problem. He's about to get invaded by a powerful enemy who tells him that he's about to take everything he's ever held dear. Ahab is a coward, so he just resigns himself to let it get taken. He doesn't put up a fight, or hold his ground. The enemy sees that and decides to press even further, since his first attack has cost him nothing. That's when Ahab's companions tell him to quit giving in and to put up a fight.

Fast forward to the battle, and the Israelites crush the enemy. God was on their side! The man who was going to crush Israel and take the leaders' stuff is now dressed in rags and groveling for his life. What a change! God can change any situation, even those which we've helped to create, and ones which we've cooperated with for far too long. Ahab was a weak-willed man who just resigned himself to whatever circumstances and people wanted to control his life, but even he was helped by God!

If you're facing a huge obstacle like Ahab was, don't just take it lying down. Ask God for help. He can turn your situation around like he did for Ahab.