Peer Pressure - Micaiah And King Ahab

The messenger who went to get Micaiah said to him, “Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success.” But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will say only what the LORD tells me to say.”

1 Kings 22:13-14

At one time or another, most parents have said something like this to their kids: “If your friends all drove off the edge of a cliff, would you do it too?”

If you ever heard your parents say this, you probably thought they were more than a little out of touch for saying it. When you became a parent yourself, you probably recognized it as pretty good advice for handling peer pressure.

Peer pressure doesn’t stop when you leave adolescence behind. If anything, it intensifies, and the stakes get higher. As one classic example, consider Micaiah, a prophet of God during the reigns of King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel. He faced some heavy-duty peer pressure.

The wicked King Ahab had asked Jehoshaphat to send Judah’s army into battle with his own in order to defeat Ben-hadad, the king of Syria. Jehoshaphat tentatively agreed to join Ahab, but only after he sought the Lord’s will on the matter. Ahab’s prophets—more “yes men” than actual prophets—approved the agreement, but Jehoshaphat wanted some confirmation.

Enter Micaiah.

Ahab reluctantly called for Micaiah, who was in prison at the time, and pressured him to agree with his prophets. Micaiah courageously refused. After sarcastically repeating the party line, he spoke the plain truth: This battle would mean Ahab’s humiliation and death.

Micaiah resisted Ahab’s pressure and faithfully spoke what God had communicated to him. He refused to drive off the edge of a cliff and instead set an example of faithfulness in the face of pressure.

Standing up to peer pressure never feels comfortable, but when you refuse to yield to ungodly pressures, you greatly encourage and bless those who look up to you as an example of faithfulness.