Bragging Rights

Read 1 Kings 20:1-13

Bragging rights are reserved for those who win, but we all know there are people that boast before the competition. However much bragging is done before the event, time will always tell who has bragging rights.

Reading through 1 Kings I came across something that made me laugh. The King of Israel at the time was Ahab and he was being attacked by Ben-Hadad King of Aram. At one point in the conflict King Ahab sends this message to King Ben-Hadad, "One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off."

I laughed because so often we brag about things we're going to do, yet it doesn't happen. We may make great claims but all too often we come to realize we are not in control of the outcome. See the Lord promised Ahab that if he stood up to Ben-Hadad he would most certainly win the battle. And we're told in verse 13 this would happen so that Israel would know who the LORD is.

Too often we experience times when we want to take things into our hands and sometimes we get all puffed up with what we're going to do, how we're going to handle situations. Truth is we need to take everything to God because in the end only He has bragging rights as LORD of Lords and King of Kings.