Have you ever heard the expression “you reap what you sow”? Perhaps you feel the burn of those words as you think of times you made a hasty decision or took matters into your own hands, only to later watch things fall apart. In today’s text, Ahab made a series of poor choices which ultimately led to his demise.

First, the Lord gave King Ahab victory over the Arameans—not once, but twice—to remind Ahab that He is the Lord. When Israel won the second battle, they captured Ben-hadad, but Ahab disobeyed God and agreed to a treaty, releasing Ben-hadad.

Second, a man named Naboth owned a vineyard that caught Ahab’s interest. In his greed, Ahab and his wife Jezebel developed a wicked scheme to take Naboth's vineyard. Their deception turned murderous when hired men lied about Naboth, saying he had cursed God and the king. Naboth was falsely convicted and sentenced to death.  

A few years later, Ahab wanted to go to war against the Arameans once again. Ahab’s false prophets supported his decision, but Micaiah, a prophet of the true God, advised against it, since going to war against Aram would fail. Once again, Ahab acted stubbornly and went to war anyway. During the battle, he was struck by an arrow and died. 

While God showed Ahab patience and gave him many warnings, Ahab ultimately refused to repent. Like Ahab, we can be greedy and stubborn. In our sin, we rebel against God and act according to our flesh. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus (Romans 6:23). Jesus lived a perfect life and died in the place of sinners so that we might be forgiven and be made right with God.

Encourage the children in your care to see that because Christ laid down His life for us, we can escape the punishment we deserve because of our sin. Teach kids that when we believe in Jesus and repent of sin, Christ removes our unrighteousness and changes our hearts so that we desire to follow God and His ways.