“Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house, so that he may eat food and drink water.” 1 Kings 13:18
To serve God requires more than the physical. You need to be seriously filled with the Spirit of God so that you will be able to discern the good from the bad. When the Holy Spirit of God overshadows your life, there is no way you can end up making terrible mistake(s) without you being warned unless you deliberately want to.
Look at the verse again, and for you to understand this verse you need to read the whole chapter 13 of 1 Kings. The man addressing the former was an old prophet who had deeper knowledge of God and His ways while the former was a prophet that God sent to warn King Jeroboam of his evil ways.
When the prophet did as God commanded him, and even restored the withered hand of Jeroboam back to normal, the king asked him to dine with him but the prophet refused, telling the king how God instructed him (Prophet) not to eat or dine in the house of Jeroboam.
I want you to understand something here. God sent the prophet to king Jeroboam, which is correct BUT God did not instruct the prophet to tell King jeroboam that he (Prophet) should not eat, dine or drink in the house of Jeroboam!
It is one thing to hear and listen to an instruction, and it is another thing to hear it and OBEY it!
When the sons of the old Prophet of God heard this, one of them went to their father and told him what happened between the other prophet and King Jeroboam. And for the old prophet to test the faith and the commitment of the other prophet in the service of God, he saddled his horse, went after him and MET HIM SITTING UNDER AN OAK TREE!
That’s an error! Being under the oak tree means the younger prophet was tired, probably tired of God’s errands and was very hungry. Normally, he was sent to King Jeroboam and once he was done, he should return to his home BUT he stayed back in the city and rested under the oak tree. Maybe he was regretting his refusal to have dined with the king.
With clear evidence, this young prophet is indeed a servant of God BUT he was not fully grounded in the service of God neither was he 100% filled with the Spirit of God. Surely he had problem battling with his human nature.
So without any argument or resistance, he accepted what the old Prophet proposed to him about coming to his house (which mean RETURNING TO THE CITY HE WAS NO SUPPOSED TO HAVE RETURNED UNDER GOD’S DIVINE INSTRUCTION). 1 Kings 13:19.
Because of hunger, this man did not pause to ask him if he was doing the right thing by listening to the old prophet but he just got up and followed the man back to his house to eat.
And again, if he were truly for God, he would have known that the old prophet was surely a prophet like him BUT he could not, which means he was not having the discerning spirit of God in him. Je could have known that the old prophet was lying and deceiving him. He could have evicted the suddenly and untimely death that came to him later on.
The end result of this mere disobedience lead to the young prophet’s death, which God predicted right away while he was eating, through the same mouth of the old prophet. On his way home, a lion killed him and left his body mercilessly by the roadside like a piece of rubbish.
This is a great lesson for every Christian. It is not enough to accept the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but you need to fill your life with the Holy Spirit so that you can find help in the moment of temptation.
Believe me, there is no way you can boycott temptations and to excel and be above them because temptations are bound to come, and this is why you must embrace the Spirit of God. Do not count solely on your human understanding. Instead, ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. You surely need Him. And without Him, you are just like a boat in the midst of stormy seas without any help.
Peace!
Ehiyeh-Sh’Ehiyeh 